"Always follow your dreams, don't let anyone tell you that you can't be something."

"Anyone can forget about talent, but if you're a good person, your name will be remembered a long time."

"Be respectful. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Respect the lowest rank and the highest rank and you'll never get in trouble."

"Enjoy your sweat because hard work doesn't guarantee success, but without it, you don't have a chance."

"Getting the contract helped me more than anything. I was concerned around the trading deadline and thought the Mariners would trade me for either (Jaime) Moyer or (Pat) Hentgen."

"I'd rather have a Gold Glove (Award) than a Silver Slugger (Award). Defense is so much more of a team game and one of my goals this year was to make fewer than twenty-five errors."

"I love the challenge of the game. I love the work. My goal right now is to have a season next year that will make people forget about this one. I'll use things like this for motivation. I'm pumped. I'm hungry."

"I'm a terrible singer. I feel lucky to play baseball. You can't be gifted in everything."

"I'm excited (after hitting for the cycle), but I guess it hasn't hit me yet. I'm only the second Mariner to do it and the other is Jay Buhner, who can't run."

"I'm having a hard time finding a date. I don't trust any women I meet. I'm very skeptical."

"I'm not a real vocal guy, but sometimes you need to kick someone in the ass."

"I'm not impulsive at all — except about buying clothes. That's my biggest weakness."

"I need to make more contact. I struck out more than one-hundred times. I can cut down on my errors and I'd like to steal thirty or forty bags. I made a lot of dumb baserunning mistakes this year."

"I want to be known as a good major-leaguer, and good major-leaguers work to become good."

"I want to step forward. I don't want to step on anyone's toes doing it. If I do, too bad."

"Keep reading books, stay in school. I encourage kids to read as much as they can, I challenge you to read a book every two weeks, like I try to."

"Last year I would have paid anything to watch a Major League game. This year I'm playing in one."

"Leadership is a role you have to earn in order to be effective."

"Like I say, it's almost embarassing to talk about. I don't know if Michael Jordan or Bill Gates or Alexander the Great or anyone is worth this type of money, but that's the market we're in today. That's what Mr. Hicks decided to pay me, and now it's time to pay him back and win a couple championships."

"Looks aren't the number one thing. They have to have class, intelligence, then looks. If I was the ugliest SOB in the world it would be a lot easier."

"Some things are meant to be and if it was, you will know it."

"The only stage I need is the World Series."

"There is a difference between image and reputation. Image is nice, reputation is developed over an entire career. Reputation is what I'm searching for."

"This whole year has been a learning experience. There are still a lot of areas in which I think I can improve."

"We have a responsibility not just as atheletes, but as members of society to treat people well. To do things the right way."

"We (Derek Jeter and I) want to kill each other. I think we both drive each other and motivate each other. But, when we're off the field, we're like family. I think the nice thing about it is we became good friends before we even mad it to the big leagues. That makes it more of a healthy relationship."

"We (Derek Jeter and I) always talk about getting old, gray, and fat when our careers are over and just having a good time. He's like me. He wants to have a good time and be a good person. It's a weird situation for us. It's just like we're looking in the mirror. the only difference is I'm on the West Coast and he's on the East Coast."

"What I've learned from Cal is to respect the game, respect the fans. Nothing fancy out there. Just do your job."

"Why do people sing Take Me Out to The Ballgame when they're already there?"

"You can take my cars or my house, just don't mess with my clothes."

"Alex is going to be among the elite. If he comes even close to the season he had last year, he'll be in his own league. You try to compare him to somebody, but you can't. He is the only one who has done what he has done." - Alan Trammell

"Alex is playful, enthusiastic, and cheerful. He's fun to have around." - Ken Griffey, Jr.

"He is what baseball needs right now. He respects the game, has a lot of class and image most people would pay for. I wish my daughter could marry him, but she's only two years old." - Gary DiSarcina

"He learned in one or two years what it took me ten years to learn. He uses the whole field, foul line to foul line." - Edgar Martinez

"I'm Alex's biggest fan. I brag on him so much that my teammates are sick and tired of me talking about him. Last year we talked all the time, especially early in the season. We both knew if we didn't get off to a good start, we might be shipped out." - Derek Jeter

"Last season, Alex probably did Edgar (Martinez) better than Edgar did. It's amazing. With Alex, success comes with his strength, with his timing, with his weight shift, with his hands. Another year of two like that, kids will all be copying Alex. A lot of them probably are now." - Tony Gwynn

"Money and fame are like dust. You aren't worth anything if you don't stay the same person you were before you had them." - Lourdes Navarro (Alex Rodriguez's mother)

"Of course I voted for him as Player of the Year; who wouldn't? He took some inside-out swings against us that landed ten rows deep in right-center. He has done some amazing things at the most demanding position other than catcher. And he's what, only twenty-one? When I was twenty-one, I was sitting in class thinking I was going to be a high school teacher. He's out winning a batting title." - Gary DiSarcina

"The great thing is that he's always looking to improve. How good can he be? Well, we're talking about a guy who is Hall of Fame caliber." - Lou Piniella

Quotes From & About Alex Rodriguez