Zitat des Tages von Eric Davis:
I've been hearing this since I first joined the Reds organization, that I'm going to be the next this or that. It's tough on a young player coming up. You show some positive things and everybody jumps on that and says you should be the next Willie Mays.
Not being re-signed in Baltimore was probably the lowest point, mentally, of my career. That city was the only place where I wanted to be at the time, based on everything that had transpired.
Baseball is not what I love. It's my job.
When you get back on the field and do things, any doubts you've developed leave. The more consistent you become, the fewer doubts you have.
I'm not head-strong, and I'm not egotistical. I understand certain things better now. I won't be trying to be play everyday. There's only one Cal Ripken, one Lou Gehrig and one Joe DiMaggio. What is good for them isn't necessarily good for Eric Davis.
If you're feeling pressure, then you shouldn't be here.
I was fortunate to play for Pete Rose and have teammates like Ken Griffey Sr., Tony Perez and Dave Concepcion. I grew up in the game with a mature attitude. I've always known it was better to be seen and not heard.
I could've played basketball, but my mind was on baseball. I didn't know what I was in for. In high school it was a matter of talent. No one told you what to do.
It's like, now you're actually complaining because you're making $9 million and guys are making more? If it makes you that upset, quit. Leave the game. Go home then and try finding another job that's going to pay you that.
I'm no different than others with cancer. I just happen to play professional baseball. I'm part of those statistics that cancer has touched as well.
Everyone would like to play in their hometown, but right now I like Cincinnati, I like the way it's going. I'm happy.
People saw me as being heroic, but I was no more heroic than I was with other injuries I had, like the lacerated kidney I suffered during the 1990 World Series. It's just that people haven't known anyone with a lacerated kidney, but everyone can relate to someone with cancer.
Most of the places I've been, I've been a main piece of the puzzle.
Never give up and don't ask why because every situation does not need an answer. I'm a firm believer that I don't worry about anything I can't control.
Circulating through the children's ward and seeing terminally ill kids, heads shaved, smiling and having a ball despite the tubes and needles sticking into them, I thought: What do I have to worry about? If God takes me, at least I've lived for 35 years.
I love the game, it's the greatest game on earth, that's why I can't understand all of this talk about trying to make the game better. People talk about the high strike zone and changing this and that. Why? To speed up the game? That's the beauty of baseball. There is no time element.
I'd never heard of colon cancer. Baseball wasn't even important to me. I have a wife and two girls. That's what was important. The doctors told me and all I could say was, 'When are we going to get this thing out?'
That's just my family's mentality. We are a very loving, hugging and kissing kind of family. And we grew up in a church atmosphere and still have that atmosphere. There is no negativity.
It's easy to see why pitchers respect McGwire. If you hit behind him, they're saying that they don't respect you. You have to change their thinking.
If you don't believe in something, you'll fall for anything. I believe everything happens for a reason. If you are strong from within, you can will anything. I'm a firm believer that where there's a will, there's a way.
I'm having a good time. I'm going to treat every game and every day as if they are my last because I now know that they could be.
Life is too short to worry about anything. You had better enjoy it because the next day promises nothing.
My only goal is to play 162 games and help this team win. If I can do that, everything will take care of itself.
I know people are pretty well embarrassed just at the mention of colon cancer. Sticking a tube in you to find out what's wrong is not a nice thing. But I can tell them, a 30- or 40-minute test is worth it. We have to make them feel more comfortable about getting screened.
People always ask me how I can hit the ball so far, and I say, 'I just swing.' It's the coaches who first told me I had good bat speed. I was just swinging, and I guess it was fast. I'm pretty fast at everything.
You can't get more appreciation than that, to be elected by the fans. That's the ultimate, really.
I was disappointed in everything - my start and the team's start. People got down on me, but I never got down on myself. I still believed I could be the type of player everyone, including me, thought I was going to be.
I don't think any player lives up to his potential, because people out there put you so high on a pedestal, you'll never be as good as they expect.
I don't want to be famous. I want to be secure. I don't want the world. I just want a piece of it. I want people to remember Eric Davis.
For me to become the highest paid player in the franchise, it was something I didn't anticipate. But I'm glad. I like playing for Cincinnati.
I was able to get operated on four days after I was diagnosed. It was just a matter of getting this baseball-sized tumor out of me. I reflect now on how lucky I was to be in the situation where I could get the best possible help and treatment.
I've been operated on 13 times.
Just putting my uniform on keeps me going. Being able to get out there keeps me going. That's the best therapy.
I'm being compared to the impossible. I never saw Mays, Aaron or Clemente play. What about the people I face every day? Tim Raines is the best? Mattingly is the best? Why not compare me to my peers?
Nothing I did contributed to me having cancer, so I can't sit back and say, 'Oh why me.' Why not me? Why does tragedy always have to hit someone else?
I don't listen to what people say about me and I don't read what they write about me. People can compare me to anyone they want to, but I'm not going to worry about it.
