Kenny Chesney Photo by: Soul Brother / FilmMagic
If country crooner Kenny Chesney weren't playing his guitar, he'd be playing baseball.
"Deep down I would love to play second base for the [Boston] Red Sox," the singer, 40, told PEOPLE Tuesday night in New York, while in town for the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.
"When I was little I wanted to be a baseball player. I wanted to be Pete Rose." Although Chesney played on his high school team, he eventually diverted his attention away toward music.
"I got into music and then I realized that I didn't want to eat, drink and sleep [baseball]," he says. "I just wanted to eat, drink and sleep."
Growing up in Knoxville, Tenn., where these is no major-league franchise, Chesney chose to became a fan of the Boston team.
"I loved watching baseball on Saturdays and they played a lot of Yankees-Red Sox games [on TV]," said Chesney, who's currently promoting MasterCard's "Roots of Rock" sweepstakes. The winner of the contest will be flown with three friends to Nashville to meet Chesney, get a tour retracing his roots in the city, and see him perform.
These days, he counts several major league ballplayers among his best friends including Kevin Millar from the Baltimore Orioles and Nick Swisher from the Chicago White Sox and says they have a lot in common.
"My life on tour is exactly like a baseball season. It starts in April and ends in September or the first of October," he says. "So, their off-season is my off-season, so I get to hang out [with them]."
Also being pals with other pro athletes, he notes that such friendships offer another perk: "I get free tickets."