Jimmy Scott's High & Tight: The Ben Broussard Interview

The curious case of Benjamin Broussard.  You see, he probably wasn't supposed to be a baseball player.  He was probably all along supposed to be a musician; maybe not a million-selling cultural icon.  More like a guy who gets an album deal and makes his money touring 162 nights a year.  But something happened on the way to his destiny.  He walked onto the baseball program at McNeese State University in Texas and made the team.  Music would have to wait.

In the Jimmy Scott's High & Tight Interview with Ben Broussard, you're going to hear how he was a guitar player in high school and also damn good baseball player.  He didn't get a scholarship to McNeese, but still made the team his freshman year.  The future Major League first baseman/outfielder pitched out of the bullpen and got a handful of at bats.  In his second season, he said he didn't want to pitch anymore.  He got a handful of at bats.  By his own admission, he knew his window to make an impression on the world of big league baseball was getting smaller.  The politics of college ball were in play.  Like Major League teams that will play the big contract guy over the 23rd round rookie, even if the rookie is already a better player, McNeese played scholarship kids in from of Broussard.  The institution had invested money into the kids with scholarships.  They got the first chance every time.

Then something happened.  Broussard quit.  The head coach of the team was gone.  The new coach called Broussard and told him to come back.  He'd be the starting first baseman for the next two years.  That was all Broussard needed to hear.  He made the best of the following two seasons and, after a tryout with the Cincinnati Reds, they chose him in the second round of the 1999 amateur draft.

Politics would come back into Broussard's life once he made his MLB debut in 2002.  He'd been traded to the Indians for Russell Branyan and brought to Cleveland a left-handed home run swing and his guitar.  Three years later, Broussard's first album, Ben Broussard, came out.  And if you read or hear any interview with him from that time period, he had to constantly defend that his guitar playing was just a hobby.

Coaches asked Broussard how serious he was about baseball.  He would tell them he was very serious about the game.  The guitar just helped him relax.  He was a baseball player first, second and third.  Other guys played video games.  He played guitar.  But because people get more famous writing songs and playing guitar, his coaches wouldn't always believe Broussard's motives.  He might only be playing during a rain delay or on the team bus, but that was too much for some.  He was traded to Seattle in mid-season 2006 and then Texas after the 2007 season. 

The end came soon afterward.  Baseball had been #1 in Broussard's heart.  But after Texas released him one month into the 2008 season, he bounced around the minors with the Yankees, Cubs and White Sox before realizing his competitive fire was gone.  His first album was successful enough to spur Broussard to believe he could do more than just play guitar as a hobby.  Since his baseball skills weren't keeping up with big league pitching, Broussard called it quits, this time for good.  And in 2009, he released a new album, Renovated.  His hobby was now his career.

In the Jimmy Scott's High & Tight Interview with Ben Broussard, you'll hear about the politics.  You'll hear about how his teammates felt about his guitar playing and how that all fit inside the clubhouse.  You'll hear about song lyrics that came to his head just before a rain delay got underway.  And you'll hear in his words how he dealt with the words and quips from those who didn't believe his heart was truly where it needed to be.

So listen to Ben Broussard talk and listen to him sing.  You're going to like both.

THE MUSIC

Ben Broussard - Deep

Ben Broussard - Peace

Ben Broussard - Children

Ben Broussard - See The Rain

Ben Broussard - Hitting The Ground

Soundtrack: Field Of Dreams

The Eagles - King of Hollywood

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Choctaw Hayride