The science of swing

"Two things that have affected my life that have led to all this. One day my father asked my brothers and me, what is more expensive, a can of chili with beans, or a can of chili without beans? My initial reaction was if it's without beans then it's going to be cheaper. (But) once you realize if you take out beans you need to put meat in, (you know) it's more expensive, so a can of chili without beans is more expensive. It's deductive logic."

"The other thing that had a profound effect on my thinking, when I was 14 years old my friend's dad was a preacher. Somebody called in and said, 'Is smoking a sin?' (I said), 'Well, the Bible's clear that your body's your temple and you shouldn't do anything to damage your temple, and smoking's supposed to be bad for you, so it's probably a sin.' And this fella said, and this is 30 years ago, this guy said, 'Son, I don't care what you think, I want to know what it is.' And to this day I think of that story if not every day, then incredibly frequently.

"if you say that the grass is purple, you're just wrong. The truth is the truth, and if you really want to excel, you have to know the truth and then make a decision."

For his contributions to the game, Rabito recently was inducted into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, located in Chicago, The ceremony was emceed by former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who was always quick with a joke. One in particular left Rabito in stitches.

"People always come to me and say, how do you think Ty Cobb would do against the pitchers of today?" Rabito said, retelling the joke Lasorda imparted. "He said, 'Well, it's hard to say, he'd probably hit about .225.' I go, 'So pitchers have gotten that good since he played, huh?' He says, 'Well, he'd be 97 years old.'"