shocked, surprised, just like everyone else. I hope there's a reason or an explanation.

This is our third year here, and we're building momentum each time, ... I think our World Series has found a home.

He's a real person. He was genuine. He was considerate. He was everything a friend should be.

We're not trying to measure our success against the Little League, ... but we have the only league that has grown at a 7 percent clip. Our challenge is to keep on growing, and if that happens, we will have plenty more success and get plenty of attention.

When you play for so long, you see it's going to come to an end and you wonder, Is your talent diminishing? Is it a slump? ... He took me aside and told me there was a time in his career when he thought he'd never get another hit. He's certainly one of the better hitting instructors I've ever been around. But psychologically, he started me in the right direction again.

This is a tremendous shock. Elrod has been such a big figure in Baltimore for so long. He was as much a mainstay in the Orioles organization as anyone I can think of.