Born on April 26th

"Recruiting Station was a story that came as the result of many anxious awakenings during many nights."

"In a sense, there's a great truth to that, but, also I was a great reader."

"You have to remember that I was a bright but simple fellow from Canada who seldom, if ever, met another writer, and then only a so-called literary type that occasionally sold a story and meanwhile worked in an office for a living."

"In those days I was new to covers; merely felt pleased that a story of mine had been honored. I later met Rogers who did some of my early covers and I was impressed with him."

"Chum was a British boy's weekly which, at the end of the year was bound into a single huge book; and the following Christmas parents bought it as Christmas presents for male children."

"The encouragement I got from Campbell was a quick check and praise. Once the Space Beagle was launched on its mission, it seemed natural for it to breed additional thoughts."

"It's difficult for me to feel that a solid page without the breakups of paragraphs can be interesting. I break mine up perhaps sooner than I should in terms of the usage of the English language."

"Well, first of all, going off with dianetics was based upon a thought of mine."

"I figure that that has a ten year cycle. At the end of that ten years, I began to get worried that I would run into what is known as the writer's block, the feeling of not being able to do these things."

"My theory was that what I had to do was make a study of human behavior."

"But, somewhere in there, I did have the thought that this really fits in with my thinking about what I wanted to do; with what has to be done by a writer in order to stay alive as a writer."

"It came about as follows: over the years when I was involved in dianetics, I wrote the beginnings of many stories. I would get an idea, and then write the beginning, and then never touch it again."

"I first read science fiction in the old British Chum annual when I was about 12 years old."

"I don't recall having any self-awareness about the intricacy of my stories."

"I had casually rented an apartment that cost $75 a month because I expected my writing to pay my way."

"If your team is in the trenches, you've got to be in the trenches with them."

"I just take it one day at a time, try to forget about what I did the day before. Go out there like every day is Opening Day."

"I do a lot of planks. I feel like the plank is the most underrated core workout; that's one of my go-to moves."

"The mental game is what separates the good players from the great players. So anything I can do to get that mental edge to help me stay my best, I'm gonna try and do it."

"You define great players as guys that are out there grinding, battling every day with their team."

"Sometimes you've got to tip your cap when they're painting stuff on the corner. But you can't give up, got to keep battling and make some adjustments."

"It doesn't really matter the score or the situation: I got a job to do."

"Repeating, trying to repeat success - it never gets easier."

"I never want to play timid or scared of anything, especially when my pitcher or my teammates are out there going 100 percent."

"That mindset never changes. It should never change. If you've been in the league for 14 years or been in the league not even a day, you should have that mindset that you're going to go out there and prove yourself and earn a spot."

"Music, I feel like, affects people's moods."

"If my barrel meets the ball, I think good things are going to happen."

"A lot of people love to watch the Yankees."

"There are some great pitchers in this league. You're going to get fooled sometimes. They're going to get you."

"The biggest thing is, you don't hit the good sliders; you just hit the mistakes. That's what my thing has always been: Just keep hunting mistakes."