Samardzija: Chicago night life ‘dangerous’ for career

Imagine you're a 22-year-old kid with millions of dollars in your bank account and playing professional baseball in one of the biggest party neighborhoods in Chicago.

Yeah, it's easy to see how that can be dangerous.

Jeff Samardzija, who signed a $10 million deal out of Notre Dame, got his first taste of the big leagues during the pennant race in 2008, when Wrigleyville was rocking night in and night out.

"It is [dangerous]," Samardzija said on The Dan Patrick Show. "Being a young kid, I can't say I didn't go through my fair share of, 'Hey Jeff ... slow down a little bit.'

"It's like, 'I'm 22 and you guys gave me all this money. It's not my fault. I live in Chicago. I'm just an innocent bystander here.'

"I had a great time, but you learn ... You learn as a young kid that you need to really balance what you do off the field with on the field if you want to perform up to the level you're demanded to in Chicago."

So has Samardzija ever pitched with a hangover?

"Possibly," the big right-hander joked.

Patrick also asked Samardzija about the pine-tar craze in the game today, where everybody is trying to catch pitchers with pine tar or some other substance on their hands.

Samardzija brushed it off, saying it's not a big deal; pitchers just try to do anything they can to get a grip on the baseball.

"If a guy I'm facing has a little pine tar, I have no problem with that," Samardzija said. "It's more of when it's something gaudy, something obvious.

"It's more about doctoring up the ball, too. When you start cutting the ball, you start scuffing the ball, that's when it really affects the pitch. A little pine tar doesn't affect the pitch unless you're putting a big clump on the side of the ball."

-- CSN Chicago staff