Winfield began his career with the Padres, made his name with the Yankees, won a World Series with the Blue Jays and reached 3,000 hits with the Twins. While the baseball world waits to see which team Winfield will represent in Cooperstown, ESPN's Gary Miller sat down with Winfield on a recent edition of Up Close.

Winfield talked about his World Series heroics, what it takes to get 3,000 hits and the recent home run explosion in baseball. The following is an edited transcript of Winfield's interview:

Miller: Of the three thousand hits, the one that didn't count towards 3,000, the '92 winning World Series double. Is that the greatest of all of them?

Winfield: Absolutely, when you're a kid, you are always up with men on base: if you get a hit it's over, and if you don't it's over. You always try to end on a positive note. That was the culmination of a perfect year. Every year you come out and practice and prepare and hope you have the right team, you hope nobody gets injured, you hope someone pitches well but you put it all together. We had great team unity, we did it for a club that had never won before. We did do it just for a city or state or a province. We did it for a whole country. And it was a great bunch of guys. That sticks out in my memory. It was just a lousy double. That hit, it just made everything right.

Miller: When you see guys retire, Elway diving into the end zone, Jordan hitting the game winning shot, and you saying "I'm the oldest guy to get 100 RBI." Why not walk away then?

Winfield: I was only 40. I felt good, man, I was in the outfield diving for balls and I had the World Series catch. I felt good then. I thought I was going back to Toronto for another year, but I wind up coming home. I went to Minnesota for two years and to Cleveland for one after that. It would have be a great culmination. It would have been great to stay in Toronto and win the next year. Paul Molitor, my homeboy, got to replace me and do it, so I feel good for him too.

Miller: You got to get your 3,000th hit at home and against Dennis Eckersley no less.

Winfield: You know the difference between my 3,000th hit than some of the guys? I'm playing for actually my fifth team, some of the guys don't really know me, we're in a tight game, Dennis Eckersley trying to shut us down and you get a hit, the guys were almost scared to come on the field and say "Way to go, Dave" because Dennis Eckersley is looking over scowling at them. He may hit them in the coconut with the next pitch. We did celebrate on the field, you know some of the coaches, the umpires, the players after the game and it was great to do it at home. Three thousand hits is not something that, when you look at some guys at the start of their career, you think they may have the possibility of doing it. Me, I'd probably be a long shot. Six-six, two hundred and something pounds, big strike zone, no minor league experience, came out of college as a pitcher, had a swing and they said "he'll never be a good hitter." So I overcame a lot of things. So it isn't something I set out to do, but I always set out to get a lot of hits. It was RBI's, home runs and playing good defense. So it was trying to play the whole game. I never knew what the numbers would be.

Miller: Has three thousand hits sunk in? How much different is it years later?

Winfield: Yes. Three thousand hits is a great milestone. It amazes me, we're now up to twenty-three people that have reached that milestone and two this year. I'm proud of it. You know what it takes to get 3,000 hits? It takes not only some God-given ability, it takes a tremendous amount of determination, it takes understanding the game as a science, hitting as a science. And what is good for a year or one decade, you may have to make some changes. People who cannot make adjustments can't hang. It's a lot of different things that go into it. It's a science, it's dedication, it's having some God-given ability and I won't say luck, because you work hard and then luck is the end result. They think it's luck but (smiling) it's a lot planning.

Miller: If you played in the 90's in the era we are in now with the long ball, would you have reached 500 home runs?

Winfield: I won't take anything away from anybody and what they are doing, with Sammy and Mark McGwire. It's phenomenal, it's almost like you have to compare what these guys are doing to the people that are driving in a 100-plus RBI's, getting 30, 40 plus home runs a year. There are some people who are going to stand head and shoulders above their peers in their era. You can't really compare the numbers that people are putting up now with, say, twenty years ago. The game was different, the ball was different. Honest to God, that is a fact. In any era some people are going to stand out. These guys are going to go down in history as some of the greatest players ever. The ball jumps out a little more. It does. What stands out to me, there are a couple of things, that show that what's happening now is different. Pitchers, of all starting pitchers, the average ERA is over 5.00.. They wouldn't make a Team (in the 70's or 80's). You couldn't make a team with a 5-plus point ERA. Now you are getting at the end of the season, you'll probably see at least 30 or 40 guys with 30 plus home runs, a lot of them with 40 plus and some of them with 50 plus, and 100 RBI's isn't the same level that it used to be. Everybody can do it, it seems. You know, times are a little different. You don't take anything away from the players, it's good for the game, it's just different eras now.

Miller: Two of your former teammates, David Wells and David Cone with the Blue Jays, pitched perfect games in the last two years (for the Yankees). Did you ever believe that Wells would have it in him to pitch a perfect game?

Winfield: First, David Cone. I could imagine that he could do it, because he thinks of ways to get out of situations, a lot different arm angles, a lot of different pitches. I can understand that. He is very cerebral when it comes to that. David Wells, there is a lot of talent under that. He's an athlete under that. The evolution, the maturity gave him a perfect game. A once in a lifetime.