Bret Boone Quotations

This really gives me some closure. I went out this winter and worked as hard as I could, and it would have been easy to walk away after last year.

Last year was a very humble experience, but it's not the first time I've ever been humbled. It's a different situation than I've ever been in, but it's a game, it's life.

I don't know where my brain was. Somewhere it never was before. Well, I'm back from outer space.

From what I went through last year, what more could I appreciate than that opportunity? I'm here to come play second base, and hopefully I go out and show these guys I'm up to the challenge.

I was a part of a lot of fun things, but it was my time to move on.

I think baseball people know about my defense. If that's what's going to help my chances get back into the major leagues, then that's fine with me.

It is a tough road now. We've been calling this a poor start, but how much longer is it just the start to the season? When does the start blend into the long road of the season?

That's what I remember, being a kid, and he's got so much love right now for this game. That's how you need to be in this game. You've got to have that. And when you don't have that, you're wasting everybody's time.

Usually when I don't talk to him too much, it's a good thing.

At the end of the day, this really gives me some closure.

Now I've got to go out and give myself the best chance possible to live up to my intention,

There wasn't anything physically wrong. I hit a professional wall. My swing got sideways. I was off with my mechanics the whole year. By the end of last year I was walking around in a fog.

It was a very tough and emotional day for me, but it's all I've ever done and ever known. It was a tough decision that I thought through, and I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to play anymore.

It's a wrench in our schedule, without a doubt.

It's irrelevant to me. It's not about that. It's about finishing my career the way I want to finish it.

This is closure. I went out this winter and worked as hard as I could.

I want to play again; I intend to play again,

I'm going to give this everything I've got, go at it full force. I expect to go out and have a great season. When I'm back next year and I don't have that feeling, I'll go home. And no one will have to tell me. I'll know. I'll go home.

I'm not like Ichiro. I don't polish my glove every day,

I'm getting a little of the hunger to play ball back,

I'm prepared for this; I know what it will take, because I've had a weird career full of ups and downs.

I look at this as a tremendous opportunity. Last year was a season I'd like to forget. The Mets have given me a chance to revive my career and I plan to make the most of it.

I know I have something left, ... And I know talk is cheap. As long as the idea is burning in my mind and it is that I can still play, I've got to do it. But I can't just show up and assume all of what I had is still there.

I have to show I have regained the form I had a couple of years ago. If I can't play like an All-Star then I'm not going to play. If I can't play at the level I am accustomed to I won't be here. I will go home.

I played this game too long and did a lot of good things to go out like that. I played my way out and I didn't want to go out that way. I wanted to go out on my own terms.

He's a pain-in-the-neck when he's on. He can throw his fastball at 97 (mph) and slider at 92, but gets in trouble with his control. He has to throw strikes.