Kenny Chesney Gears Up for 2012 MLB All-Star Game by Talking Baseball

This week, Kenny Chesney will make a special appearance at the ESPY Awards, which recognize excellence in sports. The event will not only be a treat for the singer’s fans, but also for the singer himself, as he is the only musician scheduled to present at awards — and he loves sports, especially baseball.

Expressing his excitement for the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game on Tuesday night, Chesney gave a sports-friendly interview, gushing about his passion for baseball. Not only is it America’s pasttime, but Chesney’s love of the sport even helped him bond with his father in recent years.

“The last year the original Yankee Stadium was still standing, I took [my dad] to a Yankees-Red Sox game,” says Chesney in the interview. “It was a dream. There I was with my father in the Yankees’ dugout … this very historic place where a lot of my dad’s heroes sat and played. It was a great father-son moment for us.”

Getting to enjoy special moments like those are an obvious perk of being a huge country star, but Chesney has actually made friends with his favorite ballplayers on various teams — a delight for him as a fan of the sport. The singer makes it a point, whenever possible, to pull up some of his ball-playing pals on stage, for better or for worse!

“It’s great to see the crowd roar for them when they come on stage, which is a completely different setting than being at bat,” Chesney explains. “But I will say this: Kevin Millar is the worst singer I’ve ever been on stage with. I met him when I was taking batting practice for the Red Sox, which remains one of my biggest thrills. Kevin is a big kid at heart and a great guy who I’m still close with today, but he came up on stage when we were playing in Toronto and sang his favorite [song of mine], ‘Old Blue Chair.’ It was just a terrible version! But he really had a blast and it was all in good fun.”

While he’s quite passionate about baseball, don’t expect Chesney trade his guitar for a bat anytime soon. “As great as that would be, I wouldn’t,” the ‘Come Over’ singer promises. “I love baseball as much or maybe more than music, but music is still my life.”

This weekend, Chesney heads back out on the road on his Brothers of the Sun Tour with musical buddy Tim McGraw.