Former outfielder Eric Byrnes is a self-described “aspiring pickleball player” with a genuine passion for America’s fastest-growing sport.

The 49-year-old played 11 seasons in the big leagues with Oakland, Colorado, Baltimore, Arizona and Seattle, before retiring from professional baseball in 2010.

A man of many talents, Byrnes has kept himself busy with a variety of different endeavors, including being a media personality, a youth sports advocate, a podcast host, an author, an endurance athlete, and even a coach for the Savannah Bananas.

But pickleball has become an integral part of his life, too.

“About two years ago, I ran into a few buddies of mine that I used to run with. ‘We're going to play pickleball.’ I said, ‘You're going to play what? What is pickleball?’ I ended up going out there with them that day and completely got throttled out of the court,” recalled Byrnes, during a recent interview with UTR Sports. “And I said, ‘That's the last time I will ever get beat down like this.’ I played in my first tournament over a year ago, and just fell in love with the sport.”

The game resonated with him immediately, especially from an accessibility standpoint.

The fact that it gets his competitive juices flowing again was particularly powerful as well.

“It's something that you can obviously do with anybody. I could do it with my 80-year-old mother or my 14-year-old-kid,” praised Byrnes. “And playing at a really high level, obviously with baseball, to get those same sort of feelings and that same rush of being out on the court, game on the line, and ball in your hand in a 10-9 game or whatever it is, it's been cool.”

The UCLA product quickly discovered that his former sport of choice and pickleball actually have quite a few things in common.

He appreciated that, and he’s eager to improve with more practice and tournament experience.

“There's certain things, I think, that carried over with baseball—the speed at the net, the hands battles we're in. Like this is where we can compete with the best guys, but a lot of the other stuff, right? The ground strokes, you know, we don't have what the tennis players have, so try to get that down,” expressed Byrnes. “Then the strategy of the game. I think that only comes with time in the saddle, time on the court. That's kind of the point I'm at now, but loving every step of it.”

Earlier this year, Byrnes participated in a celebrity pickleball event hosted by MLP's Phoenix Flames and Proton Sports where he partnered with Genie Bouchard.

He spoke with Pickleballtv's Dave Fleming during the festivities.

“The thing I always say is do things that make you feel like a kid again,” mentioned Byrnes. “Pickleball makes me feel like a kid, and I think that's why we're all out here.”

It doesn't get any better than that.