The Injury That Ended Morgan Wallen's Baseball Career
Batter up!
Country crooner Morgan Wallen is perhaps best known for his singing career and musical ability (and his signature mullet, let's be real) but as it turns out the "Chasin' You" singer was actually a pretty good baseball player too.
"My mom said I never played with toys or games or anything, it was always music or sports," Wallen told Nashville Lifestyles in 2021. "As I got a little older, sports took over, because when you're that age it's cooler to play sports than it is to play music," he explained. "I would still listen to a lot of music and still loved it, but I didn't take as much part in it as I did before." Eventually, his love for the sport became so strong that he made plans to play at the collegiate level. Sadly, however, Wallen's baseball diamond dreams were put on hold indefinitely after a devastating injury...
An elbow injury dashed Morgan Wallen's baseball dreams
The story goes that Morgan Wallen was on track to play baseball at the college level but that all came crashing down when he tore the UCL in his elbow, as reported by Holler.
"I went through a period where I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. It was hard, I was devastated because I'd put so much time and effort into baseball" the "Wasted on You" singer confessed about his plight. Fortunately, however, Wallen opted to make lemons out of lemonade. "So, I started writing songs and playing guitar. It was a way to help me get my feelings out and just to keep my mind occupied and to say the things that I wanted to say. By the time I was about 19 is when I really started growing the love for music that could be my music."
In 2014, Wallen competed on NBC's singing reality competition television series, "The Voice" and although he didn't take home the W he left with a plethora of experience and industry contacts. "My favorite thing about it was I got to meet my manager, my booking agent through that whole process and just kind of got to be another step along the way to get to where I want to be," he recalled. And the rest is simply country music history! But make no mistake — Wallen never forgot about his favorite sport.
Morgan Wallen sponsored a youth league baseball team
In July, Morgan Wallen gave a team of little leaguers from Humphreys County in Tennessee the surprise of a lifetime when he paid for them to hit the road and compete in the World Series in South Carolina.
"I really am proud of y'all. I also played baseball for a long time in my life, and it's my favorite sport and teamwork is everything," Wallen told the youth league baseball team in a video message. "My team nowadays is my band and crew, and from my team to yours, we want to send y'all to South Carolina, and we also want to wish y'all the best."
As reported by Fox 17 Nashville News, the team's community had been ravaged by floods just one year prior, and as a result, lives were lost and schools and churches were ruined. "I know he's from Tennessee, and that's what Tennesseans do is help each other, and you know these kids here, they're superstars in their community right now, and for a superstar like him to step up means the world to them," the team's assistant coach Steven Wilson gushed about the grand slam gesture. Bravo, Wallen!