I think Nick Markakis is a perennial All-Star, and nobody knows about him. I think people are learning about how good he is.
As long as I can compete, I won’t quit.
If you do a job, do it right or there is no point.
All I really try and do is live up to my potential and do as well as I possibly could and to bring to the ballpark each and every day a good effort and do the best that I could each and every day.
I’d like to be remembered. I’d like to think that someday two guys will be talking in a bar and one of them will say something like, ‘Yeah, he’s a good shortstop, but he’s not as good as ole Ripken was.’
So many good things have happened to me in the game of baseball. When I do allow myself a chance to think about it, it’s almost like a storybook career. You feel so blessed to have been able to compete this long.
Sometimes I think sportsmanship is a little bit forgotten in place of the individual attention.
We consider ourselves the luckiest fans on the face of the Earth.
I always thought being a gamer and someone who had a sense of responsibility to the game and to my teammates was the honorable thing.
Stubbornness usually is considered a negative; but I think that trait has been a positive for me.
By far, the best moment of my big league career was when I caught the last out at the World Series.
I kept thinking, ‘this must be the coolest job – I’d like to be a professional baseball player.’ They were getting paid to play a game, and what a cool lifestyle that was.
The streak has become my identity; it’s who I’ve become.
Ultimately, at the end of the day, you couldn’t say you were better than the other person because you knew you had a secret. You knew you had cheated.
The reality is that players can’t play forever.
As long as I can compete, I won’t quit. Reaching three-thousand is not the finish line as long as I can contribute.
Early in my career, I decided I never wanted to get out of shape.
I don’t love the idea of the responsibility falling on the manager. That just adds to their in-game responsibility.
I love baseball. The game allowed me the influence to impact kids in a positive way. This gives me a chance to talk to some social issues.
My approach to every game was to try to erase the games that were before and try to focus on the game at hand.