Everyone’s had this thought at least once: “I bet I could get a hit off an MLB pitcher.”
It’s the classic, sitting-around-with-the-boys (I can’t speak on if the gals talk about this) conversation. Everyone’s got a beer in their hand, everyone’s typically past their prime athletically, and everyone temporarily thinks they have the ability to do what the professional athletes do.
Some common, delusional beliefs include:
-Being able to score a basket in the NBA
-Making the cut at a PGA Tour event
-Getting a hit off of an MLB pitcher
We’ll be focusing in on that last one for this story.
To be clear, none of us can actually do those things. Professional athletes sometimes even struggle to do those things for periods of time (slumps). Though interestingly enough, the pros occasionally relate to the common man (or woman) and also think that they can do things outside of their profession.
Tiger Woods is one of those pros.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner has always had interest in doing things outside of golf (he regularly went through training with Navy Seals in his younger days), and he once got the opportunity to see if the power of his golf swing translated to a swing on the baseball diamond.
In the early to mid-2000’s, while Atlanta Braves legend John Smoltz was rehabbing from an injury, the pitcher reached out to Tiger… because Woods has always expressed interest in facing off against Smoltz:
“He had always wanted to face me, and we didn’t know how we would be able to pull that off. But I just happened to have a rehab simulation game and there was nobody in the stadium. I said, ‘Hey Tiger, you’re in luck if you want to face me, no one’s gonna be there and I’ll be pitching a couple of innings. You can come and take an at-bat or two.’ He goes, ‘That’d be great.'”
So Tiger Woods got into full uniform and took some at-bats against one of the MLB’s greatest pitchers. The pro golfer insisted that Smoltz not hold back against him, but the trusty arm for the Braves was worried that he’d accidentally hurt Tiger if he didn’t dial things back.
Smoltz didn’t fulfill Tiger’s request:
“It would be like me trying to think that I could make the cut at The Masters. No chance. At the end of the at-bats, I gave him fastballs that he could hit, and when he found that out, he got really mad. He declared himself 1-for-4 with a walk.”
Even with Smoltz not throwing full speed, Tiger Woods – an outstanding athlete in his own right – was barely able to get anything done against the pitcher. And that right there should go to show that all of us regular people who have never played a lick of professional sports should pump the brakes on our confidence to do professional athlete things.
John Smoltz even pointed that out:
“This happens everywhere in life. You don’t know how many of my friends – and I’m sure you guys have – go ‘Oh I could hit you back in the day.’ And I’m like, ‘You got 0% chance. There is now way.’ But everyone wants to measure themselves against somebody who’s doing that for a living.”
Now batting, @TigerWoods?
In the early 2000s, @Braves legend John Smoltz invited Tiger to take live at-bats off him.
Tiger’s one rule to Smoltz, “Do not hold back.”
pic.twitter.com/M2u2u0gA9Q
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) April 20, 2024
And though Tiger Woods might have struck out against Smoltz back in the day, he didn’t strike out with his love life in 2025. In case you missed the big news, the professional golfer went social media official with Vanessa Trump – Donald Trump Jr’s ex-wife.
Tiger Woods sent out a message from his official social media account letting the whole world know that he’s with Vanessa Trump. The professional golfer got a little mushy with the announcement, sharing that he and Vanessa are doing “life together” and also using the opportunity to request privacy:
“Love is in the air and life is better with you by my side! We look forward to our journey through life together. At this time we would appreciate privacy for all those close to our hearts.”
That request for privacy hasn’t gone over all that well so far…
The post “You Got 0% Chance” – Tiger Woods Once Traded His Golf Club For A Baseball Bat & Faced Off Against Atlanta Braves Legend John Smoltz first appeared on Whiskey Riff.