Jimmy Rollins: '[Philly fans] will tear your butt up, eat you alive'

The Phillies traded their all-time hits leader in December to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but when Jimmy Rollins talks, the City of Brotherly Love still pays attention.

The former Phillies' shortstop spoke with Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal about his transition from Phillies' red to Dodger blue, and what it was like playing in Philadelphia.

Here are some of Rollins' thoughts about his time a Phillie:

Q: What do you feel like now that you no longer are in Philly?

A: Free. I feel like I'm free to be myself without someone on my shoulder. ... The general area, the city (of Philadelphia) being blue-collar, it's not conducive for a superstar. You can be good, but you've got to be blue-collar along the way, keep your mouth shut, just go and work. Where obviously, this is L.A. It's almost like it's OK to be more flamboyant. You kind of appreciate that the more you're out there. Because L.A. loves a star.

So in that sense, I feel free. If I want to "show out" a little bit – from the outside looking in, people might say, "You're in Hollywood." But no, in some places you couldn't do that.

Q: But in Philly, you were yourself . . .

A: I was definitely myself. But if I was going to talk trash, that was going to rub people the wrong way. Because it wasn't blue collar to talk trash. That's more of a showboat type of thing. But I'm from California. You talk it, and you go do it. ...

Q: Looking back, was Philly a tough place to play?

A: It's always a tough place to play. ...  You don't make an excuse. They will tear your butt up, eat you alive. But it's all preparation, I think – once baseball is done, for other parts of my life. You have to be accountable. If you're going to call yourself a leader, you have to live by a different set of rules, a higher standard. That's just the way it is.

The interview with the always-entertaining Rollins is definitely worth a read in its entirety.