Question: What would you tell an African American kid who asks: Why should I play baseball?
Jimmy Rollins: I see kids all the time and they say, why do you play baseball? Well, why don't you? You're not going to be too much taller than me, so it's going to be tough to make it in basketball. You probably won't make it in football. I do my thing in that sense. I just try to come to their level. When you joke about it, maybe they'll think about it. Maybe they'll try it.
Dontrelle Willis: It's just as competitive as any other sport. You learn to play with ballplayers from all over the world. The camaraderie. The travel. I've been to a lot of great places that I never would have been without baseball. There are a lot of things, but those are the three things I'd tell them.
Q: Why do you think you both made it? What was special about the environment you grew up in that helped?
DW: There were a lot of good ballplayers, and it was very competitive. We played our style of baseball. And you see it in Jimmy. He's hard-nosed every day. He works hard. If he doesn't play well, he has a get-them-tomorrow type attitude. I see a lot of myself in him. If I don't throw well one night, hey, I've got another start in four days. I'm sliding headfirst. I'll do whatever it takes to win that ball game. It's kind of out of the ordinary for pitchers to do stuff like that. But that's why I see a lot of similarities in what we do. The effort level is there every night. You can never say his effort isn't there. You can never say my effort isn't there.
Q: Do you think Jackie would be disappointed with so few African Americans in the majors today?
