Big League Crystal

It is a sunny Thursday afternoon in Tampa, Legends Field is packed with Yankee fans, the popcorn popping and Coke flowing. Pittsburgh Pirates' starting pitcher Paul Maholm had just finished his first inning warmup tosses. The public address announcer comes over the stadium's loud speakers: Now batting for your Yankees, number 60, designated hitter, Billy Crystal.

I can't imagine it took many in attendance by surprise, as Billy Crystal's appearance in the game was well publicized in both sports and news media outlets.

Crystal, a longtime Yankees fan who grew up in Manhatten, as a boy dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Crystal is no stranger to Yankee Stadium, taking in many games over the years. he is also chummy with former Yankee manager Joe Torre. 

On Monday, March 10, the Yankees, with the approval of Commissioner Bud Selig, made Crystal's dream come true just before his 60th birthday.

"I've been waiting 50 years for this call," Crystal said of the opportunity. "I'm looking forward to helping the younger players, which by the way is all of them."

While it may sound absurd for the 60-year-old to take his hacks in a live game against a Major League pitcher, Crystal hoped his success senior year of high school, when the he hit .348 average as captain of the Long Beach High School baseball team, would suddenly over 40 years later come back to him.

It didn't. Despite working out with the team on Wednesday and taking batting practice before the game, Crystal struck out in his only at bat, before being replaced by Johnny Damon. To his credit, however, Crystal did run a full count against Maholm and even fouled off a pitch.

Crystal is hardly the only celebrity to appear in a professional baseball game.

Country superstar Garth Brooks, the veteran in the group, appeared in 47 spring training games with the San Diego Padres, New York Mets, and Kansas City Royals over three seasons. He collected two hits, one for the Padres in 1999 and one for the Royals in 2004. The spring training appearances were done to raise money for Brooks' charity Touch 'em All Foundation.

In an effort to research the game for his movie, Mr. Baseball, Tom Selleck, who frequently was seen wearing a Detriot Tigers cap for his role in Magnum P.I., convinced the Tigers to agreed to sign him to a contract for a spring training game in 1991. Selleck struck out in his only plate appearance, but not before fouling off a number of pitches.

Sometimes accomplished athletes cross sport boundaries to try their hand at baseball.

This was the case for Michael Jordan, who played in 127 games with the Double-A White Sox affiliate Birmingham Barons. His quickly found out that his talent was on the basketball court and not the baseball diamond. The outfielder homered three times, drove in 51 runs and scored 46 times, but hit a paltry .202.

Bode Miller, a Olympic silver medal winning alpine skier, signed a one-day contract and appeared in leftfield for the Canadian-American League Nashua Pride on July 29, 2006 in an effort to raise money for his Turtle Ridge Foundation. He appeared again in a similar fashion in 2007 for the Pride, but struck out in both his career at bats.