Categories: Features

NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens talks ‘love’ for baseball, relationship with Willie Mays

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Terrell Owens chased down stray softballs at a minor-league ballpark on Saturday with the same intensity he used to haul in passes on Sundays for 15 seasons.

Whether it was hitting in the home run derby, hustling to pick up balls from the backstop as other participants swung for the fences or captaining Team Owens in the main event, the Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver was full of enthusiasm in the third annual DeVonta Smith celebrity softball game at Coca-Cola Park. A long-time fan of baseball, he simply enjoys spending his time on the field.

“I just love to play,” Owens said in a quick conversation with Phillies Nation as he warmed up. “I just love to compete. And, honestly, I kind of wish I would have kept playing baseball.”

Owens, 50, returned to the charity event in Allentown for the second year in a row. Smith, a star receiver, has hosted a group of celebrities that includes a number of current and former Philadelphia Eagles players to take part each summer, and “T.O.” — an Eagle for two controversial yet highly productive seasons in 2004 and 2005 — is a fan favorite. The five-time first-team All-Pro and Team Owens fell to Team Smith, 16-6, in the 2024 edition of the game.

A four-sport athlete growing up in Alexander City, Ala., Owens was a member of the football, basketball, baseball and track and field teams through high school. He hit right-handed, played the outfield and “flirted with first base” on the diamond. Basketball was his first love, and he excelled in football and track as well. He continued to participate in those three sports in college at Chattanooga, but didn’t pursue baseball — which had already started to conflict with his track schedule — as he chose to attend a school without a varsity baseball team.

Owens never had a favorite major-league team in his younger years, but took a liking to the San Francisco Giants as he began his NFL career with the 49ers in 1996. He became attached to the club and was locked in on Barry Bonds’ pursuit of the single-season home run record in 2001. He vividly remembers watching Bonds slug the 71st of his 73 homers to overtake Mark McGwire for the crown.

During his days in San Francisco, Owens got to know the late baseball icon and Hall of Fame Giant Willie Mays. Owens named Mays the godfather to his son, Terique — now signed to the 49ers as a wide receiver — when he was born in 1999. Terrell Owens was present earlier this month on June 19, the day after Mays passed away, as Major League Baseball held games and festivities at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., in honor of Mays and the history of the Negro Leagues.

“Just to be able to play in Rickwood Field about a week ago, that was an honor and just nostalgic,” Owens said.

Through softball events like the one held at Rickwood Field or like Smith’s, Owens gets to pick up a bat and a glove and show some love for a sport he appreciates. He’ll have another chance to compete during MLB’s celebrity softball game on July 13 as part of the lead up to the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas.

With Owens already announced to be there to play some more ball, baseball fans will have to get their popcorn ready at Globe Life Field.