Kent Bottlefield is done playing major league baseball, but it didn’t keep him from batting around thoughts about the Lord’s calling, worshipping from behind the bridesmaids, and being who he is created to be.
(Kevan Breitinger): How you doing today? Thanks for making time for our interview.
Kent Bottlefield: Oh, glad to do it.
I’m fascinated by your story, Kent. You’ve probably told it a million times, but can you tell me about your transition from ball player to music artist?
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Music is something I always had a passion for. I sang in children’s choir, and when I reached high school I sang in the adult choir at our church and loved it. I took piano lessons when I was 10 for about 6 months or so, and quit those because I spent that half hour every week wishing I was outside playing with my friends (laughing). It was the only thing my parents ever let me quit.
But a couple of years later I started to teach myself to play real simple things, and built on that and started putting my love for Biblical lyrics and my love for melodies and piano together to start writing songs. Probably from the age of 12, 13 years old.
So you’re saying that after finishing up as a ball player you fell back onto those earlier talents you hadn’t completely developed?
Yeah, the transition came after my surgery when I couldn’t go back to playing ball but still had my same love for music.
I’m sorry, but I didn’t know that you had gotten hurt.
Yeah, my career was ended after shoulder surgery in 2001. So I knew I had a great passion for music, but I didn’t have any plans or know what form it was going to take. I didn’t know if it was going to be purely for my own quiet time or my own enjoyment or if it would be for other people. It scared me to death to get in front of people to sing or play so I didn’t really have much desire to go in that direction.
So I bought into a recording studio which really combined all my passions… and all my fears (laughing). I could write for other artists, and sing background vocals, and be part of orchestra sessions and hear the music come to life, but I didn’t have to actually get in front of people and sing. So in my mind it seemed perfect for me and I thought I might do that for the rest of my life. But for a year, when working with other artists, the same question kept coming up: have you ever done your own project? My answer was always no, and I don’t want to, because I’m enjoying what I’m doing behind the scenes. I didn’t like the spotlight as a baseball player and I didn’t want to jump back into it doing something else.
