Bo Bichette has followed in his father’s footsteps and become a pretty good baseball player. However, there was a short period of time when Bo quit baseball as a kid.
Bichette explained why he quit baseball when he was a kid and shared the lessons he learned on the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring.”
“My dad pushed me pretty hard in both baseball and tennis but with my dad having more experience in baseball I was pushed pretty hard there and was taught what it is supposed to look like as a big leaguer at a young age, just like I feel like any dad would do. But I basically told him ‘I don’t want to work this hard,’” Bichette said (15:12 in player above). “I didn’t understand at the time what it would take and also I don’t think I had aspirations yet at nine years old of being the best that I can be. So I basically just told him ‘I don’t want to work this hard’ and quickly found out that if I didn’t play baseball I’d have to work that hard at tennis.”
Bo played pretty much every sport when he was a kid but focused on baseball and tennis. His father, Dante, played in the big leagues from 1988 to 2001 with the Angels, Brewers, Reds, and Red Sox.
Dante was a four-time All-Star and finished second place in MVP voting in 1995, three years prior to Bo being born.
Bo recalled the conversation he had with his dad that led to him quitting baseball.
“I think I just told him one day that I didn’t want to. I think I had a bad game and he wasn’t very happy and I was like ‘Dad, I don’t want to play if I’m going to get in trouble for not playing good,’” he said. “I mean it wasn’t anything crazy but he understood and ever since then he definitely learned from it too, just helped me do my thing when I got back to baseball…
“Honestly, I think I was just a nine year old that didn’t want to work hard. I just wanted to have fun and my dad was teaching me what it took to really just be successful in life, not just in baseball, it takes effort, it takes work, and maybe at that time I didn’t realize that.”
The hard work certainly paid off for Bichette. He made his first All-Star Game in 2021 and could be on his way to another one this season. Bo is batting .339 with seven home runs and 21 RBI through 30 games this season.
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