Jeff Bagwell Opportunity Quotations

You know, I am not fragile of mind, ... Just because I've been out, this is the kind of opportunity I love. But when a guy's throwing 100, it's pretty tough to catch up with it. And if he throws a cutter at 100 ... man, that's not easy.

Towards the end of my career, I didn't want an opportunity like this to go by.

There's no other situation this would be OK. A normal guy, that wasn't going to play. It fit for our situation at the time. It's not something I would advocate. But Roger Clemens is a gift from the baseball gods. Anything he does is a gift. ... Craig (Biggio) and I have never had a ring. Our best opportunity to get one was to have Roger around. He tends to his obligations, his kids. And it's not like the man comes in here and pitches five innings and gives up six every day.

I played 15 years in the big leagues. That's 15 years longer than I ever thought I would have played. I've had a great career. I've had a lot of fun. I've met a lot of great people. If this is it, this is it. I'm OK with that. But as I've said all along, this was just an opportunity to see if I can do it again.

I told Phil I don't want this to be a charity case or sentimental pick. That's not what Phil is about. He's a standup guy and he's going to be honest with me. This is what he wanted. He wanted me to be here and he wanted me to get an opportunity to play, because he thinks I can do something.

It's going to come to an end. We know that. We're not talking about a 23-year-old rookie. We're talking about a 43-year-old guy who has been there, done that. Eventually -- whether it's the next two weeks or the next two years -- this thing is going to end. So I'm just grateful I had the opportunity to play baseball with him. As a kid who grew up as a Boston Red Sox fan to where I am today, it's been an honor.