“The things he did inspired me to play the game at that level, ... When I retired in 1999, I grounded out to second and gave it everything I had running down to first base in my last at-bat. I always felt if I disrespected the game by not hustling and giving everything I had, it's circumstances of cheating the fans — you're cheating the fans, you're cheating your teammates and disrespecting the name that's on the front of your jersey.”
Wade Boggs
“When a man retires and time is no longer a matter of urgent importance, his colleagues generally present him with a watch.”
Contributed by: Dafna Sharon
R.C. Sherriff
“He played at the highest level and he taught me the way the game was supposed to be played. The game was never forced on me. But I wanted to be just like Dad. Guys from the Giants were always around. Phil Simms lived close by. He was over the house a lot and I used to always go to his son Chris' birthday parties. I used to go to the all games but I don't remember them. I was only 3 when he retired.”
Ryan Neill
“I don't know what is harder, to lose even when you're playing well or when you have to retire like that.”
Justine Henin-Hardenne
“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating......and you finish off as an orgasm.”
George Carlin
“When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income.”
Chi Chi Rodriguez
“I have now got a bombproof shelter [the Continent] into which I retire when I sniff the coming portrait or its trajectory.”
John Singer Sargent
