Kenny Chesney: I’d ‘Love’ To Play for Boston Red Sox

Wasn’t his “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Pants, No Problems” CD a tribute to Dick Williams or something?

“Deep down I would love to play second base for the [Boston] Red Sox,” the singer, 40, told PEOPLE Tuesday night in New York, while in town for the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

“When I was little I wanted to be a baseball player. I wanted to be Pete Rose.” Although Chesney played on his high school team, he eventually diverted his attention away toward music.

“I got into music and then I realized that I didn’t want to eat, drink and sleep [baseball],” he says. “I just wanted to eat, drink and sleep.”

...These days, he counts several major league ballplayers among his best friends – including Kevin Millar from the Baltimore Orioles and Nick Swisher from the Chicago White Sox – and says they have a lot in common. “My life on tour is exactly like a baseball season. It starts in April and ends in September or the first of October,” he says. “So, their off-season is my off-season, so I get to hang out [with them].”