When I was a kid, watching All-Star week on TV, the Home Run Derby was a highlight for me.
— Sean Doolittle
As a fan, Kirk Cousins has this very quiet, composed, confident demeanor that seems to be pretty even-keeled. We don't see him show a ton of emotion. I think that's part of what makes him successful, that he's able to not get too high or too low throughout the course of the game and he keeps his head down, keeps plugging away.
I try to stay involved with veterans' issues. I work with some veterans charities.
Baseball came before a lotta things in my life.
When you're in the backyard as a kid playing and falling in love with the game and you crush the ball? You do a celebration. You stand and watch it like Ken Griffey Jr. You put your hands in the air like Manny Ramirez. You don't hit the ball and put your head down and run as fast you can. That's not fun. It's okay to embrace that part of a game.
A lot of these guys come to America and baseball was their ticket to give their family a better life... They're incredibly grateful for the opportunity to play this game.
If you're gonna do museums, some of the best in the world are in D.C.
If you get mad at something that says 'Love Wins,' I don't know what to tell you.
I think my patriotism is strong enough to not be offended when somebody takes a knee during the anthem. That's not something I take personally.
One thing that bothers me is the way that people use veterans and troops almost as a shield. They say that's the reason they stand and that veterans deserve to be honored and respected during the anthem. But where is that outrage in taking better care of veterans?
Our union helps ensure that we earn fair pay and benefits.
I mean, in A ball, there were five of us in a two-bedroom apartment. In Double-A, I think there were like eight of us in a four-bedroom house. There's a lot of that going on so that guys can... and the whole time, you're sleeping on air mattresses and you're using Rubbermaid bins as furniture.
It feels weird to say there's more to me than that, like I'm being overdramatic, and a tear rolls down my cheek. But, no - I do like I feel like there's more to me than just baseball.
I just like showing people - and this might be at the root of everything that I've done - that I don't want to be looked at as a baseball robot.
Maybe I'm biased because I'm a pitcher, but I think that's pretty cool that a guy can throw a ball 100 miles an hour.
I think it's okay to have fun and show some character and some personality.
By the time I was in first grade, we had settled in New Jersey, and that's where I grew up, outside of Philadelphia, right in the heart of Eagles country.
I don't even have Facebook anymore. I spend a fair amount of time on Twitter, though.
I played all sports growing up. Baseball was always my favorite, though.
An A's fan made me a Darth Vader helmet but painted in A's colors.
I don't like the idea of this team won a trade or that team did. I think it commodifies players in an unnecessary way. Let's just go win a World Series. How's that?
If you're going to come to D.C. and it's your first time here, see the view from the bottom of the Washington Monument, looking out over the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln. And see the Jefferson Memorial. It's so beautiful and such a part of the history of the city.
I've pitched in a lot of different roles in my career. I've been the middle-inning guy. I've been a lefty matchup guy. I've closed. I've kind of done a little bit of everything.
I think it's important to realize that the players who are protesting aren't protesting the anthem. They're not protesting the flag. People kind of move the goalposts on them and try to tell them what they're protesting. But as they keep saying, that's not what they're protesting.
There are some guys that can roll out of bed and they can throw 96 from the very first outing. I've just never been one of those guys.
When I step onto the mound for the first time in a game, I remove my cap and look under the brim to read a message I write to myself with a Sharpie each season. It's a private reminder to stop and reflect on how lucky I am to play professional baseball.
You know, I spent parts of six seasons in the minor leagues and I dealt with some injuries there, I saw a lot of things. I had the safety net of being a first-round pick, so I didn't maybe necessarily experience some of that hardship firsthand, but I watched it break a lot of guys. The strain that it puts on you and your family, it's really tough.
People really respond when given an opportunity to take part in something.
I'm not just an athlete doing something for likes on social media.
At the end of the day, I'm a huge baseball fan. I love the game.
The old thought process is that you have to respect the game - right? - and act like you've been there before. But I think you can also show how much you respect the game, how much you appreciate the opportunity to play the game and how excited you are to help your team by having fun.
I feel like I've always believed what I believed. I've just become more vocal about it.
If you can get kids excited about reading, maybe that can open up a whole other world for them.
I love my job, but it can be a little stressful at times. And reading has become a really healthy escape.
Somehow BB-8 and Chewie are really funny without even speaking English.
The National Mall is a special place for my wife and I. We got married on Signers Island in Constitution Gardens. It's a little spot tucked away on the National Mall. There are lots of places like that where you can find a quiet place to get away from it all.
In an All-Star game the players are having more fun than usual and showing their personalities more than usual. And there are guys in this game - I'm not one of them - who are historically good. First-ballot Hall of Famers.
You can't have an ego in the bullpen. At the end of the day, we're a group. We're only as good as the sum of our parts. Whatever you're called on to do that day, you've got to be willing to do it for the boys.
I came from a military family, so there are a lot of things I think about when the anthem is playing.
Union membership is not the sole guarantor of job security and a living wage, but nonunion factory workers do not enjoy the same protections as union workers. They're subject to exploitation, underpayment and lower standards of workplace safety - which is also often the case for manufacturing workers outside the United States.
To baseball players, our caps are sacred. We integrate our caps into our strange routines and superstitions, removing and replacing them on our heads with ritual precision so they sit just so.
The pay in the minor leagues, I think it's terrible, it's disgusting, it's exploitative.
When I was a kid, I remember my parents would say, 'Baseball is what you do, but that's not who you are' - like that might be my job, but that's not the end-all, be-all. I feel like I might even be able to use it to help other people or open some doors or explore more opportunities.
I used to care a lot about what other people thought - like teammates.
