He's the best on the whole island. The whole Caribbean. His father (Henry) was better. His father was the bomb. He could pitch, play center field. He made plays, he'd climb the wall and made great catches. He was fast. But at the time, they didn't have major league scouts there.

The baseball is going to dictate it. You can't predict not doing well because not everybody's in good shape, so you never know what could happen. We have a good team.

Lately, I've been doing that a lot. I don't want to hit anybody. If I do, I'll give them a bat.

As a player, you feel good when someone remembers something like that.

Those guys were just like the rest of us; they were there to represent their country and play baseball. They're just human beings. It's (Cuban leader Fidel) Castro who's bad.

I think this is just the beginning for baseball. If they keep doing this, the game will get bigger and better, and maybe even bigger than soccer.

The first inning, that was it. He was great after that. He got the ball down and he was consistently in the zone.

After the season, we all go back home and give clinics. After the first year we did, the kids improved in baseball worldwide. That means we're doing something good.

Mitch treats us like we're kids and he's our daddy. He takes care of every player. That's motivation -- here I go with that word again -- to play hard.