I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.

I was taught coming up in the Phillies organization to be seen and not heard by people like Pete Rose, my hero growing up, and players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and Manny Trillo.

When I was a minor league player, my goal was to be a major leaguer. It's no different as a minor league manager.

Your first responsibility is to the organization, to teach and prepare players to get to the big leagues and have them ready when they get there, but everyone in the minors wants to be in the majors.

Time and time again, I see former teammates, and we talk about it. It feels like we are all on the same page: We enjoyed the regular season, but we were disappointed in not making the World Series.

No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen.