Matt Kemp
When you think positive, good things happen.Collection: Positive
Beast Mode doesn't make excuses. It doesn't complain. Whatever you're doing, go out there and get it done. Keep pushing. If I have a bad game, I think about what I have to do to return to form. Figure it out, go to sleep, and wake up a new man.
If I could do it over, I'd want to come up to the big leagues like Mike Trout. He's exciting and I like watching him.
There's nothing like Opening Day in Dodger Stadium. You can't really describe it.
Everything is repetition in baseball. When you get all out of whack and do something different, you feel weird.
In Hollywood, for me, it's all about the movie stars and the singers. Baseball players don't draw too much attention; we're low key. I'm good with faces and sometimes bad with names, but I'll walk up to somebody if I know who they are... show them some love.
I've been a Lakers fan since growing up in Oklahoma. My hometown's finally got the Thunder, which is really exciting, but I've still got to stick with the Lakers.
I get bored real easy. I'm so used to L.A. and the pace that when I go home now I start thinking, 'Something's not right, something's not feelin' right.' I just gotta do what I gotta do in Oklahoma and get back to the fast-paced city.
When I spend money on myself, it's almost always on shoes and clothes. I'm addicted to shoes. I always have been, since I was a kid. When I was young, I could never get the shoes I really wanted.
I don't think some athletes understand how big it is to be an athlete, what they can do with just a simple gesture of shaking a kid's hand. It can make a fan's day. It can make a fan's life.
Sometimes I forget how much people look at you as their hero. I forget that.
We definitely weren't poor growing up, but we weren't rich.
I love L.A., but you can get into a lot of trouble out here.
If you do a full-on workout and then eat McDonald's or Wendy's, you're defeating the purpose. If you put good things into your body while working out, you'll see results.
If I'm in the car after a bad game, I may think about ways I need to improve. But the second I reach home, the game's over. Work doesn't come inside with me. Same thing in reverse - I don't bring my personal life into the ballpark. Learning to keep it all separate has made life easier.
I never want to sit out. I want to play baseball games.
I don't do stuff to be a star. I do it because I feel it's important for kids, African American kids, to see an African American face that plays baseball.
I'm always telling people baseball needs to be more prominent in the African American community. What a better way to do so, going on these TV shows and appearing on the cover of this or that. Now kids can see how baseball can change your life. Frank Thomas did that for me.
I love looking and seeing what kind of shoes women wear. I think that tells me if a person knows what they're doing. To me, shoes are... If I like your shoes, and you're pretty, that's a good quality. As well as being confident.
A lot of people out there get hounded about things that are going on in their lives. You just find ways to handle it and go on about your business.
I'm just going to live my life the way I want to.
You never know what God has in his plans for you.
I don't go out with the plan, 'Let me find a celebrity to go date.' That's just not something you do. I'm just looking for a good person, someone who can be my friend, and someone I can have fun with. She doesn't have to be a celebrity; she can be a regular chick. She's got to be smart, though. I like smart women.
Frank McCourt is a great guy.
L.A. has always been home.
I don't make excuses if I play bad. I just try to find a way to deal with it. I learned that from my family, to deal with your problems and still be good at what you do.
That's just never been me - 'Oh, this is hurt; that's why I'm playing like this.' That's just not the type of person I am.
Fans - they want to see results. I've been a fan before. I get it. But I see the bigger picture, too. I would never say an athlete sucks after they've been good, because you don't know what they're going through. They might be going through something that they can't shake.
I don't think people understand what microfracture surgery is. It's pretty serious. A lot of basketball players get it in their knees, and if they do bounce back, it takes a while.
L.A. kinda raised me a little bit as a 21-year-old kid from Oklahoma.
People make up things. If you ask the guys in this clubhouse I played with, I've never been a troublemaker. I don't know where that came from.
I don't think the guys I played with have ever had a problem with me. People can make up what they want to think.
Somebody had asked me how it was to be in Atlanta, and I said that Atlanta had always been known as a Braves city, a baseball town.
I would never disrespect the fans that helped me get to who I am.
More money gives me the chance to help more people, to give something back.
I love being around kids, and I love to see them happy.
I've been traded a couple times, but I've enjoyed the experience of new cities and cultures and all types of things.
That's what we all play for, is to play in the postseason.
I never got used to getting hurt and watching games on the bench. So, it's a little frustrating for me to sit there and watch my guys go out there and play every day.
I've always liked shoes. I peep everybody's shoes out to see what they're rocking.
I feel like you can tell a lot by a person's shoes.
Beast Mode doesnt make excuses. It doesnt complain. Whatever youre doing, go out there and get it done. Keep pushing. If I have a bad game, I think about what I have to do to return to form. Figure it out, go to sleep, and wake up a new man.Collection: Sleep
One of the things I've done is tell myself I can't let bad things that happen to me on the field, off the field, whatever, affect me.Collection: Done
I've pretty much grown up to hide my emotions for the most part.Collection: Emotion
Everybody used to say that baseball players can't dress and athletes can't dress. You know, a lot of athletes now are trying to prove everybody wrong, though there are some athletes that try too hard and try to do over-the-top things. But me, I try to be simple and just make whatever I'm wearing look good.Collection: Baseball
Racism is kinda old. For real.Collection: Real
I'm pretty sure that China is way bigger than the Dominican.Collection: Way
I didn't know if I could make it to the big leagues without going through Triple-A.Collection: League