As a pitcher, John Smoltz was in constant danger of taking a line drive off the dome. Fortunately that never happened to the former Atlanta Braves legend. Naturally, though, he did take a ball off the dome recently, though it was on the golf course.
“Believe it or not, and this is not something I wish on anybody, but I got hit in the head with a golf ball so hard. I’m lucky,” Smoltz said.Â
“I got it at about 100 miles an hour, right above the eye, and, I mean, the lights didn’t go off, but the bell was rung. And I’m still having some hearing issues from that.”
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Scary stuff. Not to be hyperbolic, but the man is lucky to be alive. A few inches to the right and we could be having a very different conversation. Fortunately, Smoltzy is OK. And somehow, the story has a happy ending. Getting rocked in the head may have actually helped his game. True story.Â
Smoltz tells the rest of the wild story on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast, where he returned as a guest on. He also previewed The Pro Rivals Open, a fascinating new celebrity golf tournament that will pit former athletes from all the major sports against one another to find out who is the best on the links. You can hear more in our full chat with Smoltz below. Please have a listen, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts:
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
