Quotes

"He was the guy I identified with. And I still do. He was such a gamer. Tough, competitive, hated to lose." (on former KC Royals ace Dennis Leonard)

"I can't remember a major league game where I could make eye contact with my dad. I kept wondering if he was going to yell at me for hanging a pitch or something." (On his first start after sitting out most of the 1996 season with an aneurysm)

"I guess it kind of stemmed from my father. He was a union guy working for the meat plant down in Kansas City. He was a union guy, and I guess it was just in my blood." (describing his ties to the MLB Players' Union during the 1994 baseball strike)

I'm a finesse pitcher without the finesse.

I like to think of the world's greatest athlete coming up to bat against me - Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, I don't care who it is - and I'm looking at him thinking, you have no chance.