Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.

The home-field advantage in baseball, to me, I don't understand. I had to play as well on the road as I did at home.

When I was in Birmingham I used to go to a place called Redwood Field. I used to get there for a two o'clock game. Where can you make this kind of money playing sports? It was just a pleasure to go out and enjoy myself and get paid for it.

I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days.

At ten I was playing against 18-year-old guys. At 15 I was playing professional ball with the Birmingham Black Barons, so I really came very quickly in all sports.

That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit.