I arrived in New York City on a Friday at 4 o'clock, scared to death, with three bats in my little briefcase, my glove, I didn't have a uniform.
New York was like my family. They embraced me like my mother and dad says. And my dad says, 'When you go to New York, and if they slap you, you turn the other cheek. Because if you don't, they're going to shoot you.'
In those days, there was a such a tight relationship between Black athletes and Black entertainers and the community. It wasn't like now, where they're kind of out on Olympus somewhere and the kids who live in places like Harlem will never see you. The only time they'll see you is on TV.
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