Dave Martinez

“When things go bad, the best thing to do is keep working and keep coaching.”

“When I was with the Giants, I played for Dusty Baker, and I love Dusty to death. I think he's a great manager and great person, but he platooned me. His reasoning was to get everybody in the lineup. It wasn't that I couldn't play every day.”

“When you feel like you're going to have a low-scoring game, why not have one of your better hitters have a chance? All of a sudden you're in the ninth inning and you have one of your best hitters on deck that doesn't get up. I always think about that.”

“It wasn't until Joe Maddon called me in 2006 when I thought about pursuing a coaching career.”

“I've been around baseball for a really long time. I didn't know I could want to be here any more than I do, have any more love or passion for this. But being away, even for just a week, that was the worst. I didn't know what was going on. I never want to do that again.”

“When you go up there in the batter's box, you're engaged to hit. It's the same thing with baserunning.”

“Every year that I have under my belt, I'm a lot more confident and a lot more prepared for the challenges of being a manager.”

“Through process and preparation and going through all of the interviews, I've learned a lot about myself and my skills.”

“The one thing I always hear from the players is they say, 'You never change... no matter what happens, you have conversations with us, you are always positive.' They appreciate that.”

“My kids would watch from the window and wave to me during batting practice.”

“The object is to win as many games possible.”

“I love Chicago. I love Wrigley Field.”

“There's a lot of good Latin personnel out in baseball, coaching, in the front office, and it's nice to be recognized. But I really believe I'm here because of my merit, not because of any race or anything like that.”

“Building relationships. Communicating. Trust. Those are three things I've kind of instilled myself with.”

“My dad was big about talking about baseball and Latin players.”

“I never took things for granted. I always told myself to keep working hard, come to the ballpark ready to play, and one day I'll get a chance to play.”

“I had some pretty good teachers. I learned how to play the game the right way.”

“The biggest thing I tell the boys is control the heartbeat. It's hard to do, but we've gotta be able to control the heartbeat in big moments because it goes really quick. So just stay in that moment and focus on the moment, don't get ahead of yourselves, and just play the game that we've been playing all year.”

“I enjoy my job. And I love the city of Chicago, and this organization - it gave me the start to my whole career.”

“At 21, I'm too young to be considered just a defensive outfielder.”