I Just Reared Back And

My Father Loved Baseball And He Cultivated My Talent. I Don't Think He Ever Had Any Doubt In His Mind That I Would Play Professional Baseball Someday.

I Spent 34 Months On The Battleship Alabama, South Dakota-class. I Was A Gun Captain. First We Went To Russia For About 11 Months With The British Convoys. Then We Were Up In Norway And Scandinavia.

My Father Kept Me Busy From Dawn To Dusk When I Was A Kid. When I Wasn't Pitching Hay, Hauling Corn Or Running A Tractor, I Was Heaving A Baseball Into His Mitt Behind The Barn... If All The Parents In The Country Followed His Rule, Juvenile Delinquency Would Be Cut In Half In A Year's Time.

Baseball In The Navy Always Was Much More Fun Than It Had Been In The Major Leagues.

Baseball Is Only A Game, A Game Of Inches And A Lot Of Luck. During A Time Of All-out War, Sports Are Very Insignificant.