My dad was a designer for Upper Deck, and I had hundreds of Ken Griffey Jr. cards. Hundreds. I could have paid for college with them.

If I could go the ballpark and play the game for three hours and then go home? It would be awesome. But that's not the case.

I guess my name was gonna be Michael Vernon Wells, and I came out, and my dad saw my nose. He always says that my nose right now is the same size as it was when I was born. So he had to name me Vernon. He's got a big schnozz on him, too.

You get caught up in hitting home runs and seeing how far you can hit them, and your swing changes.

I think you start hitting home runs, and you start getting caught up in seeing how far you can hit them. They're fun, but you really only have to hit them a foot over the fence. They all count the same.

I got to the big leagues when I was 20. I thought I had it all figured out. Went to spring training that next year and started off well, got sent down, and I pouted pretty much all of 2000. And it wasn't the right way to handle it.