Celebrities Who Had Baseball Dreams - Part 1

by Libby Pelham | More from this Blogger

19 Apr 2009 06:15 PM

Many a little boy has had dreams of playing professional baseball one day, but did you know that some of your favorites had to settle for celebrity stardom instead? That's right, had things been a bit different, instead of seeing George Clooney in Academy Award winning roles, you might have seen him on the baseball field.

Clooney tried out for the Cincinnati Reds when he was younger, but failed to make the team. He is still a big Reds fan. In fact, Ellen DeGeneres used former Reds players as a ploy to get Clooney on her show last January. She had to enlist Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench to appear on her show to lure Clooney in. He fell for it - hook, line, and sinker.

Superstar Garth Brooks dreamed of being a baseball player, but only after he conquered the country music world. He went to the spring training camp of the San Diego Padres in 1998 and 1999 and the New York Mets in 2000. While with the Padres in spring training, Brooks hit a dismall .045, going 1 for 22. At least he got the one hit! After a four year break, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals in 2004. Brooks did this in part to raise money for his Teammates for Kids charity, which raises money for children. But, you know, somewhere deep inside, there was a little boy just wanting to play baseball on the big field.

If you think Garth is the only country singer to try to make a go of it with a baseball career, you would be wrong. In 1952, Charley Pride pitched in the Negro American League at the age of 14. He must have done well - the next year, he signed a contract to play with a Class C farm team of the New York Yankees. While baseball didn't work out for Pride, he did have a great music career, with 36 #1 hits and is still the only African-American to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

Another country superstar, Conway Twitty, might have made it to the big leagues had the U.S. Army not interfered. Twitty was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies after high school, but got drafted and had to settle for playing for a local Army team while stationed in Japan. At the same time, he was playing in a band. Baseball's loss was music's gain - Twitty went on to have 45 #1 hits and won two Grammys.

Tomorrow, I will write about more celebrities who dreamed of the big leagues.

Learn more about Libby Pelham

Libby Pelham is a work-at-home mom located in Jacksonville, NC. She has a beautiful little boy, Will, born in July of 2004.

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