White Sox defeat Padres but Garth gets a single
Sunday, March 21, 1999. Associated Press

PEORIA, Ariz. -- 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.