Welcome to Wild Pitches, where your favorite players take time to chat about something other than baseball. The questions will, hopefully, provide you with a glimpse of the person behind the ballplayer, and maybe a few laughs, too.

Eric Byrnes is one of the great characters in baseball today. The 30-year-old outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks has a reputation for his amazing work ethic and all-out play. Byrnes pedal-to-the-metal style has endeared him to fans in Oakland, Colorado, Baltimore and Arizona. Byrnes is known for his dirty uniform style and has seemed to found a home in Arizona. He's already surpassed his career high in home runs and could surpass his season-high RBI total by the end of the season. Byrnes off-the-field attitude toward life is the same as how he plays the game -- all out and with a lot of fun. Wild Pitches peeks into the life of a ballplayer who personifies what this column is all about.

Bay area boy ...

Growing up out there was a great cultural experience. I got to grow up in the heat of the Silicon Valley, in between san Francisco and San Jose. I really enjoyed growing up there and growing up a big-time 49ers fan at the height of their dynasty. It just really made me love sports and being so close to the ocean and mountains. It's God's country, as far as I'm concerned.

Giants all the way ...

I really loved the Giants. Now, my aunt lived in Southern California when I was a kid and I would stay with her for a couple of weeks during the summer. I would come with her and watch some Dodger games, but for me you grew up a Giants fan and you grew up learning to hate the Dodgers. So, of course the Dodgers drafted me in 1994 and I always joked that it was the reason I didn't sign with them.

Dad taught karate -- Mom played tennis ...

Karate was fun. My dad was a fourth degree black belt in karate and was a karate instructor. I loved it, I just think I got to the point of whatever my parents wanted me to do, I wanted to do the opposite. I eventually strayed away from karate and tennis. The other thing was that in karate I was always getting disqualified for head contact. I kept hitting the other kid in the head and you're not supposed to. I loved playing tennis and I played it very competitively until I was about 16 years old, and then I gave up everything else for baseball and football. I made it all the way to brown belt in karate and probably, when I'm done playing ball, I'll go back and get my black belt. I still play a good game of tennis. My serve is still there. My forehand is good and I used to have a two-handed backhand -- you can now throw that out the window, that doesn't exist anymore. I've gotten a little bigger and I use a one-handed, sliced backhand, I need to work on it. Tennis was probably the most competitive game I played when I was growing up. It was intense.

Bruno and Bella are my babies ...

My two bulldogs are the pride and joy of my life. I love them. They are the cutest little things that you will ever see and even through all the drooling and slobbering and farting and snoring that they do, they are just a joy to be around. I just like to kick it with them and take them down to the beach, let them go crazy in the waves -- they run and hit the waves and run back because they get scared. They love to go out on walks and because they're big, they like to wrestle and get after it a bit. We've definitely gone a few rounds wrestling. My girlfriend takes care of them when I'm on the road. It's a pretty good deal. Without her I wouldn't be able to have them, it would just be too tough. The joke that I've always told her is that the dogs are what's held our relationship together ... uh, she obviously doesn't find that very funny.

I've got a pretty good memory ...

When I put my mind to doing it, it's something I can do. I wouldn't call it photographic. If I have the desire to do something, I usually get it done, so if that involves memorizing something, then that's that. Everyone seems to know about the time in college when I memorized all the the American presidents in order and their vice presidents. Vin Scully likes talking about that when we play the Dodgers. It was just something I did for fun.

Economics and the business of baseball ...

I took a lot of economics courses at UCLA and I really found that interesting. I've developed a pretty firm grasp of the economics involved in professional baseball today. I think it's important that the players understand the economy of baseball and that they understand why we're making the money that we're making; why we're so fortunate to be in this position. It's because of a lot of great players before us have been willing to fight for the player's rights and getting their fair share. Guys like Jim Bunning, Curt Flood and Robin Roberts are the pioneers of today's salary structure and modern day free agency and arbitration. I didn't know a lot of those things when I came into the league, but, being a guy who went through the free agent process last year and through the arbitration process, I found it intriguing and there's a lot that players [should] know.

They love me in the Dominican Republic ...

I had some good years there playing Winter Ball. I think I was the first American MVP there in like 20 years or something. I played for Licey, which was kind of like the Yankees over there, and we won championships. We won two championships when I was down there and when you do that, people like you, and if you do that for the most popular team, then they love you. It was interesting. It was like nothing that you would see out here. Regardless what I do in America, I will always probably be a bigger star in the Dominican than I am here.

On the iPod ...

I have about 1,000 songs, why clutter it with music I'm not going to listen to? I like country, classic rock, hip-hop, everything. I like all the popular songs. I like all the top-40 songs. Music is very basic for me. I'm a very trendy music listener, whatever is hot, whatever is going on, that's what I'll listen to.

On TV ...

I watch Fox News. That's all, no TV series, no CNN, just Fox News. I leave the TV on it all day.

If I hadn't been a baseball player ...

I would have been a bridge toll taker. I'm not kidding. I always wanted to be a bridge toll taker when I was a kid in the Bay area. I would see those people kicking it in the booth and I thought that would be a really cool job. Just sitting there with your music, reading, watching TV, do whatever, take the money. Looked like a good job to me.

When I'm done with baseball ...

I'll hopefully be behind a microphone in some capacity. I'd rather be a radio talk show host more than broadcasting. I want to host my own radio show. I've done it before and I love it. It's something that I have passion for the same way I have passion for baseball, being behind a microphone and being able to say what's on my mind. That would be cool.