I was showing early symptoms of becoming a professional baseball man. I was lying to the press.

I wanted to be a professional baseball player.

It is dangerous to spring to obvious conclusions about baseball or, for that matter, ball players. Baseball is not an obvious game.

Basketball, hockey and track meets are action heaped upon action, climax upon climax, until the onlooker's responses become deadened. Baseball is for the leisurely afternoons of summer and for the unchanging dreams.

I was a professional athlete, the best baseball player in the world at one point.

Since I was in high school, I wanted to play professional football and professional baseball, be a two-sport star.