1999
San Diego Padres Spring
Training
#77 Troyal Garth Brooks
Spring Training 1 for 21
The
one hit achieved on March 21, 1999
Garth
Brooks' latest hit
Country singer gets single in Padres' loss to White
Sox
Posted: Sunday March 21, 1999 10:46 PM
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) -- Country singer-turned-baseball player Garth
Brooks got his first hit of spring training Sunday, singling up the middle
in the San
Diego Padres' 11-8 loss to the Chicago
White Sox.
"It's like Merv Rettenmund said, `You just keep doing what you
think is right, and hopefully you will look up and it will fall in,'''
Brooks said.
"I thought for sure it would be one of those things. When you hit
it, you would just know. But I looked up and the pitcher I thought made a
really good try for it and I saw the second baseman dive and the ball
disappeared behind him. So I couldn't see what happened. When the crowd
stood up, I thought `Holy cow!'"
"I bet that base hit to him means more than if he sells another
million records," Padres general manager Kevin Towers said.
Brooks' hit came off Mike
Sirotka in the second inning. Brooks was pinch-hitting in his 10th
plate appearance of the spring.
"It was a nice piece of hitting. It was a fastball away and he
went up the middle," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said.
After reaching base, Brooks gave Chicago's Frank
Thomas a big hug.
"Since I don't follow country music, I probably don't realize the
scope of what happened," Chicago starter Mike Sirotka said. "For
him, it's awesome, no doubt."
Thomas was 3-for-3 with two RBIs as Chicago got 16 hits. Jeff Abbott
went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Paul Konerko hit a two-run pinch-homer.
San Diego had 17 hits.
Garth Brooks Out of New York
Jay Orr
posted: 09/12/2001 source: country.com
Garth Brooks and the people with him left New York City Tuesday afternoon
(Sept. 11) by car.
Brooks, manager Bob Doyle, spokeswoman Karen Byrd and Mt. Juliet, Tenn.,
schoolteacher Judy Cummings were in the city to record public service
announcements for the Read Across America program.
The group was on its way to a recording studio when the attacks on the
World Trade Center occurred. They returned immediately to their midtown
hotel, then left Manhattan.
"We drove north out of the city and across the Tappan Zee Bridge
[over the Hudson River] and then back down on the Jersey side," Byrd
told country.com Wednesday. "We're just looking at a way to get back
home, probably via ground, because we certainly can't go anywhere by
air."
Brooks was to have received the Golden Note award from the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Tuesday night in
Washington. The dinner in his honor was canceled, however. Byrd said
Wednesday that there is no word on when the event might be rescheduled.
"All of our thoughts are with the families of the victims and those
who are still alive, whom we hope will be rescued," Byrd said.
"We're also thinking of our nation as we try to recover from this.
That's completely where our focus and our thoughts are."
Byrd has family in the Philadelphia area. "We hope to get back to
Nashville as soon as possible," she said.
Brooks' debut of his new single, "BEER RUN (B-double-E-double are you
in?)," originally set for Monday (Sept. 17) at the Country Music Hall
of Fame, also has been postponed "until a more appropriate
time," according to a release from Capitol Records.
"We are United States citizens first and a record label second,"
said Capitol Records chief Mike Dungan in a statement. "Out of
respect for the victims of today's tragedy, we have decided to postpone
our event. We know everyone joins our staff and our artists in remembering
the victims and their families during this horrific time."
