Gabe Kapler

We all have rooms in our homes that could benefit from a good spring-cleaning.

I vividly recall the physical sensation and emotion of playing defense behind my teammates - pitchers dominating opposing lineups, throwing up zero after zero as the innings progressed.

Being on the losing end of perfect games sucks. I tried not to make a habit of it during my career, but I couldn't help myself.

I despise wasting a meal.

Despite my strict, healthy diet when mired within my regular routine, when I venture in a explorative fashion for a meal, it's all out, no-holds barred, dessert, and drinks, the whole nine.

Despite the perception, players possess little free time in the cities they frequent on the road. They spend an extraordinarily unbalanced percentage of their time traveling to and at the ballpark.

I'm not a golfer. I don't fish. I don't even watch TV.

If you ask me what my hobby is, I don't have a traditional hobby.

I'd had a concept that I strongly believe in, which is that when people are comfortable and they're confident, they are also better at life and better at their job.

When do you get into your best conversations? Probably when you're relaxed.

I want to display my failures at every turn, and ultimately I want to lead by example.

So for me, my vice and big challenge is coffee intake. I drink black, organic coffee, but I drink way too much.

The stress of not allowing yourself life's guilty pleasures from time to time is as unhealthy as the act of indulging.

I never experienced the joy of being on the good guy's side of the perfect game or no-hitter. Karma.

Wrigley, beyond its status as a baseball icon, has an undeniable positive energy all its own, which penetrates all who enter its gates.

When I backed off the cardio and refocused on strength training, the muscle definition came back.

I probably spend 14 hours a day, if you include a commute, at work. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time to train, and it certainly doesn't leave a lot of time for a social life. Which I have none.

Pete Rose inspired my style of play, but should not be in the Hall of Fame.

When designing a workout program for high level performers, factors such as body type, previous training experience, and even pain tolerance come into play.

By branding myself authentically, the eyeballs will come.

I won't step foot inside a new eatery without some strong recommendations or after consulting a site like Yelp or Urban Spoon.

I believe in my heart that the name of the game in baseball - from an offensive perspective - is getting on base and not making outs.

Athletic toughness is extraordinarily difficult to quantify.

Sports psychology suggests - and we as players have been taught - that negative self-talk can diminish our chances for success and that the opposite is also true. Given the talent, we can also think and speak our way to success.

On MLB team flights, adult beverages are often enjoyed. Usually, the youngest, most wet-behind-the-ears players will be responsible for carrying the beer and ultimately delivering it to the veterans.

On top of the highly variable necessary attributes to perform in each sport, human beings are like snowflakes; no two are alike.

I knew after being drafted in the 57th round that I would be swiftly replaced if I wasn't able to play through a considerable amount of pain in the minor leagues, and ultimately until I established myself as a productive, stable member of MLB.

Green base ballers don't want to be viewed as unhealthy. Young players are constantly judged and evaluated on every layer of their being.

One of the first things I learned from veteran teammates - as a minor league player in the Detroit Tigers organization - was that you do everything in your power to stay out of the training room. It's a survival of the fittest thing.

For MLB players, sitting around aimlessly waiting to heal is never a good idea.

Seeing the news on 'FOX Sports Live' of yet another baseball player on crutches always reminds me of the September night in 2005 when I tore my Achilles tendon in Toronto.

After an injury left me unable to perform my usual routine, I focused on the best upper body workouts to keep myself fit and strong.

When an injury robs a player of his ability to train the way he's accustomed to, there is nearly always an alternative.

Letting the ball travel is an important mental cue. It's simply about making an attempt to see the ball and to slow it down. It's a relaxation technique used to avoid being jumpy and attempting to hit the ball directly out of the pitchers hands.

We know that we can't make contact with the baseball with our front foot not firmly planted in the ground. So, in our cage drills we work on being on time and not rushing this action.

Elite baseball mechanics feel different in the bodies of MLB players than they appear on film.

Not only do squats build muscle in the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves, they also allow for the release of testosterone and growth hormone providing a highly anabolic environment for all other areas to grow when trained.

The squat is ideal for building strength in the glutes, perhaps the most powerful collection of muscles in our bodies.

No sir, I don't have a crystal ball, but I do have common sense.

Brimming with fortitude, Wrigley wears its ability to brave the elements like a badge of honor. More so than any other ballpark in America, it has witnessed blizzards and subzero temperatures. More importantly, it stands as testament to decades of suffering fans, their pain littered throughout the seats and corridors.

If you've been apartment or home shopping and left disgusted because a realtor brought you into a space that hadn't been updated since 1977, you've experienced the visitors clubhouse at Wrigley. Ceilings on top of you, lockers smashed together, plastic tables cluttering the floor and carpet ripped straight off the Brady Bunch stairs.

If Coors Field is the flashy youngster, Wrigley is a wise and weathered, tattered, beat up old man, but rich in charisma and character.

I've always made the case that a baseball locker room is simply an extension of society. Every type of person you have in your large office environment is also represented in an MLB clubhouse.

Culturally Jewish, I was - and am - proud of my heritage, but don't practice religion.

I was a Southern California boy raised on rap music and cussed like a sailor.

Chad Curtis told me I was going to hell if I didn't believe that Jesus Christ was my lord and savior.

I can remember being in right field in Yankee Stadium and fans armed with media guides called out my family by their names and said absolutely unrepeatable things. I laughed to myself and it never bothered me.

After a Double-A season in which I was named Minor League Player of the Year by several publications, I grabbed some positive media attention. Being the emotional, entrepreneurial capitalist that I was, I decided to try to strike and start an online fan club.

I was forced to earn some extra glue and made the hysterically shortsighted decision to pose for photos in very tiny and colorful swimwear for a fitness magazine, that would become the fuel to many a comical fire in my clubhouse environments over the years.

Well-struck baseballs must land safely in the gloves of fielders; borderline calls must go the way of the artist on the mound. Pitch selection must be on point. Defensive genius must occur. And everyone must adhere to the time tested baseball tradition of superstition.