By doing that and being very competitive, the grown-ups started telling me even back before I started playing organized ball that I was too physical and too advanced for the kids my own age.
I took a lot of things for granted – especially how I treated my body.
I think everyone would love to see Jeff Gordon lose or get run into the wall, but I think he uses that – similar to me.
When I was a kid, everybody in the neighborhood picked me to be the one in jail or be in the cemetery by the time I was 20.
If I miss anything about the sport, it’s the camaraderie of old teammates.
I was always the fastest and strongest kid in my school so events like the 100 meter and discus throwing attracted me. I could throw the discus for great distance s without the proper spin and throw technique.
I was always active – I went from baseball to football. I didn’t have time to work out.
I’ve always played with kids that were five, six, seven years older than me.
I was the type of guy that used to get up in the morning and go out and just out run everybody on the field without stretching or warming up or anything.
It occurred to me in my junior year of high school. I got my first letter from a big college. I still have that letter to this day – a letter from Indiana.
I have been a fan all my life, but now I have been out of football for over 10 years, and out of baseball for a little over six years and I don’t go to games.
Back before I injured my hip, I thought going to the gym was for wimps.
So you have to be more mentally focused in baseball.
Really, it’s not harder to train for them because once baseball starts you play everyday almost.
I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.
I guarantee you that’s what Jeff Gordon does. He uses everything the fans throw at him to stoke his fire and it drives him to be better at what he does.
So, I got a lot of recruitment letters from track.
You have a lot of people on the run and really don’t have time to sit down and eat a balanced meal.
I hate to blow my own horn, but I gave a lot of people fits.
I’ll never worry about not being successful. I’ll just take it one day at a time, one season at a time. And play as hard as I can.
I’m the type of person, I cross the bridges once I get to ’em. I don’t try to plan my life three, four months in advance, because you don’t know if tomorrow’s promised to you.