Quotes from Eddy Alvarez

There were times when I thought of dropping skating completely and just focusing on baseball.

Right now it looks like skating is done for me. I'm ready to move on. But if baseball doesn't work out and I still have that itch for skating, I may be back.

When we get off the line in skating we kind of look like little ducks running.

At the Olympics, once I got there it was more about the full experience and skating to the best of my ability.

Skating is much more of an individual sport, and then there is a team event once the team is picked.

In skating, I knew that 2014 was going to be it for me. I had my heart set on trying baseball again after.

The silver medal is incredible, because we worked so hard for so many years. Sacrificing, absolutely demolishing our bodies for hours a day, 11 months a year, years on end.

Baseball's just something that's always been a part of my family. My dad did it, my brother did it, I grew up doing it.

I'm just going to keep going. That's been my motto since I was younger, through all adversity and all obstacles.

If I wouldn't have medaled at the Olympics, it still would have been a successful trip. The medal is the icing on the cake.

I learned how to be an athlete. I learned the true art of resiliency and grit.

When someone meets me it's 'Oh, you're the flag-bearer guy!'

If you saw what I looked like in high school you probably would've laughed. I looked like I should have been in middle school.

Long track is more of a symphony... You're out there and you want to get in the zone.

The ultimate goal is to get back up here to the Miami Marlins.

What the public sees is my successes... Yes, I've won competitions and I've done unbelievable baseball, but a lot of those times, I failed more often than not.

I always told myself that if baseball was not fun anymore, then I would move on from it.

I thought playing baseball would give me a break from being in a squat position all day, but it didn't. I could not handle the pain anymore.

As soon as I finished skating, watching video of me stealing baseball bags was funny.

And it wasn't so much the medal, it was stepping out of the ramp during the Opening Ceremony. Man, I took a step back and realized I made it. That was huge.

I've literally had dreams of that moment since I was a kid, no joke, about stepping in for my first at-bat.

You've got to be up-to-date on what your opponent is doing.

In baseball, I had this lower body but nothing in the upper body. I had to counteract years of training and work the upper body.

As an Olympic athlete, I was at the top of my sport.