Grateful Dead's Bruce Hornsby Has Logical Reason He Wouldn't Trade Music Career for Baseball Stardom

Bruce Hornsby, who played accordion, synthesizer, and/or piano with the Grateful Dead on over 100 shows between 1988 and 1995, joined the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz today.

The interview was not the smoothest in human history — at one point the call got dropped; at another Le Batard didn’t think Hornsby was being forthcoming and had the “Kentucky Fraud Chickens” chirping at him — but the end featured an interesting hypothetical.

Would Hornsby — who’s still touring with his band, and has had a long, acclaimed, and successful career in music, trade those accolades for a comparable baseball career?

Hornsby had to think about it, but settled on no. “Here’s why I wouldn’t trade this for a sports career — because I’m 62, and I still get to do everything I want to do,” he said. “I’ve improved. I’m twice the musician now than when I was popular. In sports, there’s no parallel. Maybe in golf, with the senior tour … so I wouldn’t trade this, just because of the longevity of it. It’s sort of not possible in sports because the body wears down.”

The peak glory of sports superstardom may very well exceed that of the arts, but when you consider how long you can stay busy with your work as a writer, musician, artist, or actor, there is not much question about what would be more preferable for a lifetime.