I Don't Want To Be Famous. I

People Saw Me As Being Heroic, But I Was No More Heroic Than I Was With Other Injuries I Had, Like The Lacerated Kidney I Suffered During The 1990 World Series. It's Just That People Haven't Known Anyone With A Lacerated Kidney, But Everyone Can Relate To Someone With Cancer.

I've Been Operated On 13 Times.

Circulating Through The Children's Ward And Seeing Terminally Ill Kids, Heads Shaved, Smiling And Having A Ball Despite The Tubes And Needles Sticking Into Them, I Thought: What Do I Have To Worry About? If God Takes Me, At Least I've Lived For 35 Years.

I'd Never Heard Of Colon Cancer. Baseball Wasn't Even Important To Me. I Have A Wife And Two Girls. That's What Was Important. The Doctors Told Me And All I Could Say Was, 'when Are We Going To Get This Thing Out?'

I've Been Hearing This Since I First Joined The Reds Organization, That I'm Going To Be The Next This Or That. It's Tough On A Young Player Coming Up. You Show Some Positive Things And Everybody Jumps On That And Says You Should Be The Next Willie Mays.