6 Months At A Time

Creeping in the back of every ballplayer’s mind: what is life going to be like without the game. For a lot of baseball players who see their careers coming to an end; maybe it is right after college, maybe it is after a couple years in the minors, or after 4 years of crazy overseas adventures. Life after baseball is a mystery and you probably won’t realize what it feels like until you are 4 months into a big boy job, furthering your education or whatever it may be. In reality, a lot of players do not know what they want out of life after they hang up their cleats. For me, I always made it a priority to AT LEAST think about it. I did not think one season overseas was going to turn into 4+ years of evolving the game, becoming a national team coach, and digging roots in 3 different countries (4 if you include the best holiday of the year- Finkstonball). I hope this is a platform for everyone to give their PERSPECTIVE on how they combat moving away from the game. Hopefully nobody really has to…

I try to have a mindset of only living and planning 6 months at a time because it is the only way I stay passionately motivated. I am not saying it is the ultimate way to live but I think it is a stepping stone to conquering or simply figuring out the next move. Luckily a season naturally lasts about 6 months so I would say about mid September; when the playoffs are dragging on, the weather is starting to change, planning your return flight home, this is when I would start to get a bit anxious. Coming back home after what was a fantasy land of a summer, there is a serious mental hangover of ‘what now?’. Over the past three offseasons I have tried to grind my ass off, work two jobs and save money to start working towards what some call “the future”. October and November are always tough because there still is a looming feeling of the ride being over. People ask, “How was your summer?” and you don’t even know how to respond or where to start. The holidays offer a good little buffer to make the time go by a bit faster and then hopefully all of a sudden you are spit out in January ready to make a move. At this time in the cycle, the motivation to really work hard on your craft does not hit its peak until you truly have something to look forward to. For most of us, it is signing with a new team, in a new country, and having a send-off date.

What happens if you choose to not let this cyclical offseason whirlwind of emotions get the best of you and effectively plan so you can optimize your time at home vs your time playing abroad? It took me three offseasons to realize that during the low months of being home is when you can start laying the foundation for what you want to accomplish even after the upcoming season. I understand this does not add up to just looking at the next six months chronologically, but in fact you are setting aside that season time to focus on simply being in your respected country, soaking it all in. Therefore, the months you get back home you can hit the ground running. Being able to compartmentalize the highs of the season, and dealing with the lows of the offseason, how you control the latter is going to affect how you move forward with or without baseball. Always think ahead, but not too far ahead.

After talking about it since my first season in Australia (2015), I finally got around to applying for a masters program. I was talking about it enough over the years then I realized I needed to be ‘Bout it Bout it’…. I looked into a lot of programs at whatever big universities were in the countries I was playing in, because that is where my motivation and passion was brewing at the time. Anywhere from Masters in History, Geography, Education, even Law School (gave up on studying for the LSAT really quick). As soon as I got back home from my 4th season abroad, I finally figured out how to handle that hangover and finally finished my application. I found that I became passionate about taking this next step and all I could think about was making it a reality. Instead of just getting through the holidays and waiting for another season, which at times felt like the easy route and brought immediate satisfaction, I knew it was time to prepare for the next chapter. Everything ended up working out perfectly. I worked out a deal with my previous team that they would sign me just for two months over the summer so I could still go over and play a partial season, then come back for School in the early fall. Too bad it took a global pandemic to stop ‘Los Meros’ from playing.

I have extended my playing career virtually as far as it possibly can go. As much as I want to continue to play forever and live in every single country that has a baseball league, it is time to diversify the portfolio. Baseball will always be there. I hope someday, one of you guys reading this are 40 years old, balding, and still playing as an import in Bulgaria. Keep your options open, and be ready to explore different avenues for life after baseball. But once again, maybe that is just my perspective.