I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day and I dream about it at night. The only time I don't think about it is when I'm playing it.

And if I have my choice between a pennant and a triple crown, I'll take the pennant every time.

This is a strange game.

I was a lousy hitter in May doing the same things that made me a great hitter in June.

I was lucky enough to have the talent to play baseball. That's how I treated my career. I didn't think I was anybody special, anybody different.

You don't always make an out. Sometimes the pitcher gets you out.

The three-thousand hitting thing was the first time I let individual pressure get to me. I was uptight about it. When I saw the hit going through, I had a sigh of relief more than anything.

Don't get me wrong, I think bikes are terrific. I own several of my own, including a trendy mountain style, and ride them for pleasure and light exercise.

I admit to wasting my life messing around with fast cars and motorcycles.

More books, more racing and more foolishness with cars and motorcycles are in the works.

The bicycle is a former child's toy that has now been elevated to icon status because, presumably, it can move the human form from pillar to post without damage to the environment.

Had I been more responsible I might have made something of myself as a junk bond trader, long-haul trucker or perhaps a plumbing contractor.

I have four grown children and two tiny grandchildren.

Regardless, I did rise to the editorship before embarking on a freelance career in the late '60's.

The automobile, both a cause and an effect of this decentralization, is ideally suited for our vast landscape and our generally confused and contrary commuting patterns.