7 Wrestlers Who Started Their Careers In Baseball | Surprising Facts

Do all baseball players keep their professions in baseball? From what I have learned in all these years, many famous names in different fields have actually changed their fields from baseball to their current career!

Among those people, there are a few wrestlers who started their careers in baseball. You may have seen them being ferocious in the ring but will be surprised to learn they used to play baseball professionally. 

So, today I will provide you with information about all the professional wrestlers who started their careers in baseball and then came to this profession. Make sure you read thoroughly to find the interesting and key facts behind their career changes.

Why Changing Career from Baseball?

From the research on the wrestlers’ careers, I have come to find out some reasons behind forfeiting their baseball careers. If you see the history of baseball, you will learn many more things like this. 

Almost everyone would have gotten a wonderful career in baseball that went to waste because of some sad reasonings. Here are some of the reasons why wrestlers changed their careers from baseball – 

• Permanent Injuries: In most cases, I have found wrestlers giving up their baseball careers. It is not a surprising matter to have injuries while playing baseball, a physical game. But because of permanent injuries, professional careers can go at stake.
• Changing Passion and Interest: While going through life and finding a lack of opportunities, many wrestlers tend to change their passion and interest in baseball or softball.
  Some of the college wrestlers who started late have changed their interest in baseball to wrestling too.
• Performance in Baseball: Some of the famous and professional wrestlers used to be good baseball players. But because their skills were not up to the mark, they had to change their career path.
  You have to agree that baseball is a competitive sport. If you are not up to the mark, you have to abandon the career choice then.
• Retirement: The retirement age of a baseball player is around 35 – 37 years. After that, many professional baseball players change their career path. Among them, some of them came into wrestling careers too.
• Lack of Opportunities: Because of no scope of thriving in baseball, many players leave and try to join other professional careers. This may include going for wrestling.

Wrestlers Started Their Careers in Baseball

As you have already learned why professional baseball players changed careers to wrestling, let us learn about those individuals. You may get surprised by knowing some of the individuals too.

Randy Savage

Who does not know about this legendary American professional wrestler? His dedication in wrestling let him get a title like “Macho Man”. But did you know he was a former professional baseball player?

Baseball Career Origin 

According to the research, St. Louis Cardinals organization first made a contract with Randy Savage as a catcher. This happened when he was out of high school. 

Baseball Career Paths 

In the minor leagues, he played as an outfielder mostly. He played in the minor leagues when he was 18. He played for the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds in his career. At the last time of his career, he played for the Class A Tampa Tarpons in the Reds organization. 

Reason for Changing Career

Injury in the natural (right) throwing shoulder. This cost him his whole career in baseball. After that, he joined as a professional wrestler.

Rinku Singh Rajput

One of the most top-notch professional WWE Indian wrestlers you will see is Rinku Singh Rajput. His ring name is “Veer Mahaan”. As ferocious as he became in wrestling, his career in baseball was also a remarkable one.

Baseball Career Origin 

The most interesting thing about Rinku Singh Rajput is his baseball admission history. When I first learned about it, I was amazed at how lucky a guy can be!

At the very beginning of 2008, Veer joined a TV show named “The Million Dollar Arm”.  He won $100,000 from that show with the help of baseball throwing at 87 miles per hour. After winning, he came to the United States, where he started his career as a professional baseball player.

Baseball Career Paths

Veer, at the very beginning, signed a contract with the Pittsburgh pirates. Later on, he also played for the Canberra Cavalry when he went to play in the Australian Baseball League. 

Reason for Changing Career

Veer Struggled with injuries and was continuously missing Major Leagues. Later a broken elbow cost him his retirement from his baseball career. Then the era of the Indian wrestler started.

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Johnny Damon

Have you ever watched the hosts of wrestling manias? In those categories, Johnny Damon is a very popular name. Johnny is a famous baseball outfielder who has also appeared as a host in WWE.

Baseball Career Origin

The career of Johnny Damon started at the very beginning of his life. He played in the South Orange Little League at the beginning. Later on, he participated in Walker Jr. High baseball team.

As a startup career, Damon was doing great in this field. Who knew that he would become a famous name in this baseball era?

Baseball Career Paths

If you know Johnny Damon, then you know where he started his professional career first. He was first selected by the Kansas City Royals. Later on, he spent one year with Oakland Athletics and another two to three years with Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

This amazing outfielder did not stop there. As you already know, this amazing sportsman has been playing since his retirement. He later signed with Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cleveland Indians and went for free agency later on. His career path is as remarkable as his stats. 

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Reason for Changing Career

This phenomenon baseball star hosted WWE Raw after he retired from his baseball career. As a wrestling host, he had gotten quite a lot of fame there too.

Derick Neikirk

As a phenomenal professional wrestler, you may have heard about Derick Neikirk. His blowbacks and KOs are something you should be afraid of. But did you know that he was a former professional baseball player too?

Baseball Career Origin

At the very beginning of Derick’s life, he started his baseball career with the baseball team Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC). And then, his career path as a professional baseball player started with a good remedy.

Baseball Career Paths

After he was doing great performances in ACCAC, this amazing wrestler signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers. He was mainly a catcher over there. So, if you have seen catchers in this club before, you have surely heard his name. 

Later on, Neikirk went to play in the California League as a team member of Visalia Oaks. Then, later on, he played some more minor league games. I will say he had a very short professional career in baseball before entering the wrestling world.

Reason for Changing Career

As far as Neikirk went with baseball, he never actually planned it out. Later on, he found wrestling as a great career path and went along with it. 

What do you think? Can you make a big choice like changing your career because you think yourself does not fit in a career like Neikirk did? I would say that will be a very big decision to make.

Bobo Brazil

Who knew that playing professional baseball could change your career path? Well, Bobo Brazil has it. 

Bobo Brazil, also known as Houston Harris, was a legendary professional wrestler with a lot of achievements in his wrestling career. But he did not start his career as a wrestler at the beginning. The starting was baseball.

Baseball Career Origin

At the very beginning of his life, Harris did not have a good start. He had to struggle because of his father’s death when he was only seven. 

But he changed his life with the struggle he did by doing odd jobs. Later he joined The House of David to play the Negro Leagues Baseball. This was the start of his baseball career.

Baseball Career Paths

When I learned about Bobo Brazil, I was so surprised! He was the only guy I have seen who played only one league championship. That one championship changed his whole life along with his career.

Reason for Changing Career

If you know about Harris, you know his life in poverty was dreadful. He had to take care of everything. So, after playing one baseball season in the Negro Leagues, when people acknowledged his wrestling compatibility, they offered him the expenditures.

Harris, at that time, got convinced, which changed his whole life. Then he became a legendary professional wrestler.

Tetsuya Naito

In the professional wrestling world, we have heard the name Tetsuya Naito at least once. This world-class wrestler is a Japanese guy who achieved a lot of achievements in his wrestling career. But do you know about his early hobby of playing baseball and liking baseball?

Baseball Career Origin

At the very beginning of Naito’s life, he used to be a fan of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team. He did not contribute that much to his baseball career. He used to play locally before he started his wrestling career.

Reason for Changing Career

Naito did not actually play baseball professionally. So, I can just tell you his changing career is actually just choosing which one he wanted to go with.

It is just choosing a different path. Naito used to love baseball. But as a profession, he chose wrestling instead.

Kamille

This whole time, you have heard about male wrestlers who changed their careers from baseball to wrestling. But there is one female wrestler who changed her career and now is in wrestling. She is none other than Kamille, one of the American professional wrestlers.

The name Kamille is actually her ring name that you may know about. Her birth name is Kailey Dawn Latimer. 

Softball Career Origin

You may have learned about Kamille from wrestling or softball, but she used to play every sport at the very beginning. One of the owners of a professional softball team at that time signed a contract with her. 

This was at her college time that I am talking about. She stayed at that team for a while. Then she thought about changing her career, doing a regular job.

Reason for Changing Career

Camille would have changed her career eventually. At the time when she had gone for wrestling, softball did not get that much fame for her. After going to an indie show in North Carolina/Virginia, she got a spirit of wrestling.

This is how she started her wrestling career professionally. Today we see a professional female wrestler because of that change of heart.

If you want to know more about Camille, you can check it out here – 

Was It a Good Decision to Change Career for the Wrestlers? 

Not everyone gets the success of what they want. In my opinion, these wrestlers tried one career option baseball/softball. When it did not work out, or they had a change of mind, they tried a different career.

Now, I have shown you guys the famous names who changed their careers and became successful. But do you think there is no one else who changed careers but did not get success like these individuals?

Some may have a great shell of success, some do not get it. But because of that, if you are confused, clear your mind. If these individuals can do this, so can you. Give it a try, maybe this will bring success for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Are the Career Paths Baseball Players Usually Choose after Retirement?

Baseball players have quite a lot of opportunities to thrive after retirement from a baseball career. Here is a list of those names – 

1. Coaching/Managing
2. Broadcasting/Media
3. Front Office/Scouting
4. Entrepreneurship/Business
5. Sports Marketing/Representation
6. Broadcasting/Commentating
7. Baseball Academies/Youth Development
8. Education/Coaching Outside of Baseball
9. Wrestling/WWE

2. What Is the Proper Time for Retiring from Baseball and Joining Wrestling?

If you are thinking about changing career options, you should understand how important you need to provide before you can step up to this. The proper time to retire from baseball is usually 35-37 years.

But if you want to join wrestling, then 30-32 years will be the peak time to do so. This will help you to understand whether you are good at that profession or not. You can change your career option later on too.

Final Thoughts

Becoming a professional baseball player or a professional wrestler totally depends on a person’s choice of taste and the will to change their career path. As you have learned about the wrestlers started their careers in baseball, I will say you can do it too.

It may take some time to cope with everything, but you can do it. If the wrestlers did not take the step of forfeiting baseball and joining wrestling, then you may not have heard their names here. Provide dedication, and you will find success in your life.