Possibly Pro Baseball?: Smylie Kaufman & Golden Tate DIscuss

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Transcript

00:00You were drafted out of high school and I wanted to ask you about this because I can't

00:07imagine how difficult it was, you know, you got drafted in 07, you decide to go play college

00:12football and then you have a such a long career in the NFL through 2021.

00:16And then you said, you know what, I'm gonna go try baseball again.

00:20What was that experience like?

00:21How difficult was it?

00:22And are you happy that you went and did it?

00:24Well, it's the last question first, yes, I am very happy that I went and did it because

00:30I thought I was going to be playing baseball for the rest of my life.

00:32Like I got drafted out of high school, then I got drafted after my rookie season in Seattle

00:40and I suddenly, I just decided to go play football.

00:43I just felt like, oh, football is more my personality, more my style.

00:47I could have a greater effect on the football field than the baseball diamond.

00:52So suddenly I was like, okay, I'm playing football.

00:55And so the fact that I was, you know, pretty much done with football and my wife was willing

00:59enough to like, let me go give it a shot.

01:01Not that she really wanted me to go do that, but I was thankful.

01:05I trained my tail off for a few months with Matt Noakes, who played a catcher, who's Elisa's

01:13uncle, my wife's uncle, and I mean, I grinded it out and I do and did think there was something

01:18there.

01:19It's just, you know, where I was in my life, like, did I really want to go pursue another

01:25professional sport while having three young babies after I'd had a spectacular career

01:31in one sport, you know, one of the greatest sports in the world and made, I was fortunate

01:36enough to make a bunch of money to support my family for the rest of our lives.

01:40It was like, you know, what, what's more important at this point to be a dad or be on the road

01:45for, you know, months at a time and double A or triple A grinding, you're grinding up

01:52trying to get to the MLB at the age.

01:55I guess I'm 36 now at the age of 33, like your window is very small.

01:58So it was fun and cool that I tried and I've definitely felt like I could do it, but it's

02:04just maybe my next life.