On having juvenile diabetes: I didn't know what it was, so I went to the library and looked it up. I can still remember the feeling I had when I read the description: life expectancy of a juvenile insulin dependent diabetic: 25 years. It also stated that it would cause blindness, kidney failure, and hardening of the arteries. At that point, I said to myself, 'I'm going to fight this thing and beat it.' That's how badly I wanted to live and be a big league ball player.