If he had never played first base, it would be a tougher transition for him. He seems comfortable there, and I think he'll be fine.

Fortunately we had the wind going in our favor. He got it up in the wind. On a given night, it doesn't go out.

He'd been having a good year down in A-ball, and he's showing why he's up here. He's got a nice short, little, simple swing. He's just finding the barrel every time.

He's staying simple and within himself. He has a short swing that is working.

They'll get much sharper. Always that first week coming out of spring training you have days off and travel, and generally pitchers aren't as sharp because of the difference in routine.

History is a sly boots, and for a generation of blacks that cannot identify with the frustrations of Jim Crow, and for whites who cannot understand the hard deal that faces working-class blacks, it is difficult to reconcile Hughes's reputation as a poet-hero with his topical verse and uncomplicated prose.