I remember one time I'm batting against the Dodgers in Milwaukee. They lead, 2 - 1, it's the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two out and the pitcher has a full count on me. I look over to the Dodger dugout and they're all in street clothes.
There is nothing like Ruth ever existed in this game of baseball. I remember we were playing the White Sox in Boston in 1919, and he hit a home run off Lefty Williams over the left-field fence in the ninth inning and won the game. It was majestic. It soared.
I'd sneak out and work on my game at midnight. The neighbors would call and say, turn the lights off. I went from the worst player to the first guy off the bench to the best player on my ninth-grade team, and then it took off.
Bases loaded and nobody out is a pretty impossible situation.
Not too many people present a good ground game from the bottom. They survive a little bit, and it's kind of boring. But not too many people are attacking from the bottom, hurting with elbows. They don't bring that kind of game because it takes a long time to develop.
If I was crazy, I'd throw the ball into the stands with the bases loaded. Now, that's crazy. If I was stupid, I'd throw the ball into center field with the bases loaded and a 3-2 count on the hitter. Now, that's stupid.
Plus, when you get in tough situations, like the bases loaded and nobody out, you never give in.
I don't care what the situation was, how high the stakes were - the bases could be loaded and the pennant riding on every pitch, it never bothered Whitey. He pitched his game. Cool. Craft. Nerves of steel.
If you can do that - if you run, hit, run the bases, hit with power, field, throw and do all other things that are part of the game - then you're a good ballplayer.
I don't give a damn about any actors. What good will John Barrymore do you with the bases loaded and two down in a tight ball game. Either I get the money (more than Barrymore), or I don't play!
All you umpires, back to the bleachers. Referees, hit the showers. It's my game. I pitch, I hit, I catch. I run the bases. At sunset, I've won or lost. At sunrise, I'm out again, giving it the old try.
As I remember it, the bases were loaded.
I'd rather you walk with the bases loaded.
Whether we're up 2-0 early in the second half, or we're up 1-0 with 10 minutes left in the game, my mind-set is the same when I come in the game. It's to help keep that lead, whatever way I can.
You run a major risk when you assume that you alone have all the answers: You don't, and that's okay. You don't have to be afraid to admit there are certain things you either don't like to do or aren't any good at. You reach a goal by covering all your bases, and you cover all your bases by hiring good people.
You never want to be in a bases-loaded, no-outs position, but dammit, when you're there, you better enjoy it. You better not sit there and sulk about it. You better rise up and figure it out.