Tommy Lasorda

You can wake up every day and make today better than the last.

One time I was doing a speech to a group of kids, and just before I get there, I see this little kid crying. I found out they just lost a game, and he was the losing pitcher. I went over there, put my arm around him, and said, 'What are you crying for? When major league players lose, they don't cry.'

When I was interviewed after I got hired to replace Walter Alston, a future Hall of Famer, I was asked: 'Don't you feel pressure on you?' I said: 'Want to know something? I'm worried about the guy who's going to have to replace me.'

I've got a portrait in the Smithsonian. Who ever thought that would happen?

They could never beat me in Springfield. I loved that old ballpark. If I could have pitched there all my career, I'd be a 300-game winner.

When I was 15 years old, I used to actually dream I was pitching in Yankee Stadium. Bill Dickey was my catcher.