Before Morgan Wallen was packing stadiums for concerts, he was on the diamond playing baseball — a theme that has popped up in his music, as well. Wallen had even started getting attention from college scouts before an injury sidelined his baseball dreams.

We took a look back at his high school baseball career in his hometown, how he's now giving back to help young athletes and how his love of baseball still shows in his music today.

Get to know Morgan Wallen: The baseball player.

Where Is Morgan Wallen From?

Wallen was born May 13, 1993, in Sneedville, Tenn. His father was a local church pastor, and Wallen sang in the church choir as a child. His mother was a teacher.

When he was in his teens, his family moved to Knox County, where he attended high school.

Wallen was a standout on the mound as a pitcher and as a shortstop for Gibbs High School (same high school that Kenny Chesney graduated from) as a sophomore in 2008. Going into his junior year, he was starting to get attention from college coaches and scouts before suffering an elbow injury. The injury shut him down on the diamond and allowed him then to focus on music.

Morgan Wallen High School Baseball Photos

If you're curious how the chart-topping country singer looked as a high school baseball star, you may have to do a bit of digging. Luckily, we were able to unearth an archived local news article from 2010 that shows Wallen with some of his teammates.

To see a high school photo of Wallen in his baseball uniform, check out this archived KnoxNews article.

Morgan Wallen Gives Back to His Knoxville High School and Others in Need

In 2021, Wallen created the Morgan Wallen Foundation, which is dedicated to helping youth in need through sports and music — two things that access to changed Wallen's life.

The foundation also works to help communities in need by providing access to meals and more.

And it is not just a foundation with his name: In 2023, Wallen returned to his high school for a surprise free concert and donated $35,000 to the school's band, chorus and baseball team.

In late 2023 Wallen and his foundation donated a half a million dollars to the Parkwood Community Club to rebuild the historic Black baseball and softball complex in North Nashville. That donation was matched by Major League Baseball to push the total to $1 million.

READ MORE: You've Heard Post Malone's New Song With Morgan Wallen Before

Morgan Wallen's Baseball Song

Anyone who has listened to "’98 Braves" knows that baseball still plays a role in Wallen’s music.

Of course, the 1998 Braves are one of baseball’s greatest ‘what-if’ teams — they racked up 106 wins with four different hitters hitting more than 30 HR’s (Javy Lopez, Andres Galarraga, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones) a pitching staff featuring Cy Young winner Tom Glavine and six All-Stars.

Morgan Wallen's "'98 Braves" Lyrics Video

But their season came to a surprising end as the San Diego Padres (or as Wallen refers to them in the song, them damn Padres) took down Atlanta 4-2 in the NLCS before they went and lost to the Yankees in the World Series.

The song relates that "what if" feeling for the Braves to a romantic relationship that never quite reached its potential. Check out how the singer weaves baseball into the lyrics below.

Morgan Wallen "'98 Braves" Lyrics

We got close, but close doesn't cut it
Had a good run, to end up with nothin'
But a 3x5 that you hide in a drawer
We swung for the fences and came up short
Yeah, you win some, you lose some, it ain't always home runs
And that's just the way life plays
If we were a team, and love was a game
We'd have been the '98 Braves