It doesn't matter if you get 3,000 hits in 18 years or you get 3,000 hits in 22 years. You still have to reach that milestone. You still have to hit 500 home runs, and it's like a pitcher doing it. If you get 300 wins in 19 years and a guy gets 300 wins after 24 years, he's still doing something right.

The things he did inspired me to play the game at that level, ... When I retired in 1999, I grounded out to second and gave it everything I had running down to first base in my last at-bat. I always felt if I disrespected the game by not hustling and giving everything I had, it's circumstances of cheating the fans — you're cheating the fans, you're cheating your teammates and disrespecting the name that's on the front of your jersey.

When I was with the Red Sox, there was no rivalry [compared to] the rivalry that was there in the '70s,

Humbled by the fact that never in a million years would I ever thought that I would be on the same stage with all these great Hall of Famers and enshrined to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

There's a plaque missing in the hallway, as far as I'm concerned. He was one of the greatest hitters in the game. What he did was wrong, but as far as one of the greatest players to ever play the game the right way, he deserves it.

It couldn't happen any better, ... This is a Hollywood script. It's so good for baseball. It's great for the rivalry between New York and Boston. And there might be baseball Monday, you never know.