Ryne Sandberg

My wife Margaret is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I was taught coming up in the Phillies organization to be seen and not heard by people like Pete Rose, my hero growing up, and players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and Manny Trillo.

I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.

I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a lousy student, one of the slowest readers. It was a tremendous struggle. But I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.