Eight Baseball Stars With Passion for Horse Racing

Baseball great Joe Torre (left) owns part of top racehorse Game On Dude (Photo by Benoit & Associates).
It may not even feel like spring yet for those that live in the northern half of our country. Nevertheless, the boys of summer are back in season as Major League Baseball’s official Opening Day is in the books for 2014!
Both Thoroughbred racing and professional baseball have long and storied traditions, and there was a time not so long ago when the two were the dominant sports in the U.S.
Throughout the years, baseball and horse racing have often intertwined. Let’s take a look at eight baseball personalities whose passion for Thoroughbred racing was or is well known.
1) George Steinbrenner: Steinbrenner owned one of the world’s most successful sports franchises, the New York Yankees, for 37 years from 1973 until his death in 2010.  Steinbrenner also owned Kinsman Stud Farm in Ocala, Fla. and raced under the name Kinsman Stable. A few of Steinbrenner’s best horses included Concerto, Dream Supreme, and Bellamy Road.

Photo by WikiCommons/MLB
2) Don Zimmer:  Zimmer was a Major League player between 1954 and 1965, during which he played for a number of teams. Zimmer is best remembered as a manager/coach, as he has been involved in baseball in that capacity since 1972 and remains a senior adviser for the Tampa Bay Rays. He won six World Series - two as a player for the Brooklyn Dodgers and four more as a coach for the New York Yankees. Zimmer is an avid horseplayer and introduced his longtime friend Joe Torre to the game.

Photo by WikiCommons/Aaron Frutman
3) Joe Torre: Torre had an illustrious baseball career as a player. He was a nine-time All Star on the field and won the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1971. Torre is perhaps best known today as a manager. He is a four-time winner of the World Series as manager of the New York Yankees. Torre credits an afternoon with friend Don Zimmer (above) at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore with how he truly got hooked on the racing game. Torre has owned shares of successful horses including Sis City, Vineyard Haven, Homeboykris, and Game On Dude.
TORRE (left) LEADS GAME ON DUDE INTO THE WINNER'S CIRCLE 

Photo by Benoit & Associates
4) Paul Lo Duca: Lo Duca had an 11-year Major League Baseball career, playing seven seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he was a 4-time All Star. During his playing career, Lo Duca was a racehorse owner and, after retiring from baseball in 2008, Lo Duca became a horse racing analyst on TVG Network. Lo Duca will be a key part of the TVG team in the coming weeks leading up to the Triple Crown races.

Photo by WikiCommons/UC International
5) Brad Penny: Penny is a two-time MLB All Star and a two-time World Series champion. He spent most of his early career with the Florida Marlins and also played for a long stretch with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Penny, who last played for the San Francisco Giants in 2012, was always interested in racing and found it easy to sneak over to Calder Race Course while playing for the Marlins - Calder was less than a mile from the stadium. Penny now owns racehorses in California.

Photo by WikiCommons/UC International
6) Moises Alou: Alou was a 6-time MLB All Star who played for seven different teams during an accomplished career. He was a member of the 1997 World Champion Florida Marlins. Alou bred and raced Thoroughbreds in the Dominican Republic late in his baseball career and continues to be involved in racing in that country to this day.

7) Hank Allen: Allen had a 7-year MLB career, with most of his career spent with the Washington Senators in the late 1960s. After retiring from baseball in 1973, Allen turned his attention to horse racing, where he trained in Maryland. Allen was the trainer of multiple stakes winner Northern Wolf, who finished sixth behind Sunday Silence in the 1989 Kentucky Derby. Allen is still involved in baseball as well as a scout for the Houston Astros.

8) Pete Rose: All Hall of Fame questions aside, no one can deny that Pete Rose is one of the greatest players to ever play baseball. Rose holds numerous Major League Baseball records that he set over the course of a 24-year playing career, including most hits with 4,256. It is no secret that Rose likes to gamble, and he currently lives in Las Vegas. Pete Rose has been a horseplayer since his baseball career began and continues to follow the sport to this day.

Photo by WikiCommons/Kjunstorm