CHICAGO -- Scotty McCreery is best known for winning Season 10 of
American Idol in 2011. But few people know he almost became a part of
the White Sox organization one year later.
Actually, he almost was a pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, as McCreery explained Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field. "The White Sox called me up wanting to draft me, more for a publicity
stunt," said a smiling McCreery, who pitched throughout high school. "I
had to fill out the draft sheet and they said they were going to draft
me the last round. We had the big draft party, I waited it out, but I
never heard the name called, so it's all good."
McCreery made his first trip to U.S. Cellular Field, as he was
scheduled to sing God Bless America as part of his ballpark tour in
partnership with Major League Baseball to promote the Reviving Baseball
in Inner Cities (RBI) program. McCreery first became involved in the
program by donating money to Nashville inner cities.
"A lot of my memories were growing up playing ball as a little kid,"
McCreery said. "I'm just trying to help those kids out in inner cities
and making sure they have the opportunity to play ball as well and get
to the field and get the equipment. Make sure the kids are having the
same fun as we did back in the day.
"We are going out to different parks and kind of getting some
publicity to make sure more people are aware of it and can help out if
they want to as well. Doing that and singing a little bit. Just kind of
hanging out and having fun."
Despite McCreery's love for America's pastime and his excitement for
visiting the White Sox, he wouldn't have given up singing if the White
Sox selected him. "No, I was in no way shape or form a pro prospect," McCreery said.
"They were having fun with it. So I went along with it for sure."
http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130915&content_id=60678172¬ebook_id=60684156&vkey=notebook_cws&c_id=cws
Performance Stage at the US99.5 Studios. (Photo by Christine Newsom/ US99.5 Chicago)
Chicago White Sox
Mia Herz
Natalie Cozzi
Scotty McCreery
Kristi Lubben
Amber Bishop
