Many professional athletes from other sports enjoy hitting the links and enjoying a round of golf in their spare time. Former MLB star Johnny Damon is no different.
On Friday, former MLB star Johnny Damon joined CBS Sports at the 2023 PGA Show and talked about his love for the sport of golf, and how that love grew while he was playing baseball professionally.
“Well, I can’t play baseball forever and hopefully I can play golf for a long time,” Damon said. “I just enjoy the camaraderie with the guys because we had it for so many years with the guys when I was playing baseball. And now it’s on the golf course. We go out and have as much fun as we can.
“I know a lot of people take this game seriously. I will never. I always want to do good, I always want to have fun. I’m not getting paid to play this game, so I want to have as much as fun as possible.”
Damon explained that he began playing golf during his time with the Kansas City Royals in the early stages of his baseball career. He never had a ton of chances to play during the season, though. Instead, he would play golf during spring training, more so when he was with the Boston Red Sox as an established veteran, without having the pressure of having to make the ball club.
Damon played 18 seasons in the majors, splitting time between the Royals, Red Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland. He retired from the sport back in 2012.