I was born September 10, 1982 in Denver, Colorado. I was 7 lbs 6 ounces and my head weighed 6 lbs. At the ripe age of one, I took my first steps and at the age of two I was able to recite the "Star Spangled Banner", boy genius, maybe. When I was three my family packed up and moved to a suburb called Englewood. We were living the good life then; a three bedroom house with a door, a window and a welcome mat. I think I really hit my stride at five years old when I became valedictorian of my Kindergarten class and I had my first leg hair.
Around seven was when I found my love for baseball. I remember my dad taking me into the backyard to teach me the fundamentals of this lovely game. He spoke to me for hours, but honestly I don't remember the conversation at all. In fact, I am pretty sure I was thinking about how my dad had a weird shaped head and didn't hear one thing he said.
So then the practice began. My dad threw me a bunch of "fly balls" and I did not catch one and come to think of it I didn't even open my eyes because I was so afraid. But that fear soon dwindled and I found a passion for the game. I can remember that all I wanted to do was play baseball. But there came a point when I wanted to walk away from the game that had taught me so much. When I was 10 years old I felt like baseball was taking over my life. I had no time to feed my pet lizard Jerome and my girlfriend was starting to complain because I was always on the road. So I told my parents that I was going to retire.
My mom sat me down and said, "You can quit, but you have to go to practice and tell everyone on your team." I went to practice that day with every intention of quitting, but when push came to shove, I couldn't do it. I loved the game, I loved the smell of fresh cut grass and I loved the taste of bubble gum. I played baseball throughout middle school and did very well. I played for a competitive travel team, which allowed me to see some of the most beautiful places in all the world. Next time you are in the United States you need to visit Farmington, New Mexico; La Junta, Colorado; and Watts, California because they truly are special places.
My baseball career continued to thrive and my senior year, I was making the decision on whether I go to college and play baseball or go to college and play intramural sports. So I chose to play baseball at Emory University. This was the first time in my life that there was another Jew on the team. And everything you have heard about Jews not being good athletes was incorrect.
These Jews would have made Abraham and Isaac proud, or at the very least their Nana's and Bubbies proud. College was a challenge for me. When I wasn't playing baseball and attending social functions, I was trying to get my education in business. See my feeling was that if baseball didn't pan out, I would go into the corporate world and after 3 years become the CEO of Wal-Mart. I figured that was a modest 3 year plan.
College baseball was amazing; my team was one of the best in the country and we made it all the way to the College World Series in 2003. You might not recognize some of the teams we played, but it was still a very big deal. When I graduated Emory, I thought my dream of being a professional baseball player was over with, so I went into the next best thing; telemarketing. I moved to Chicago to work for The Chicago Bulls as a cold calling season ticket salesman. I was making 70 phone calls a day and my typical phone call went like this, "Hi my name is Aar___" hang up and then silence.
After almost a year with the Bulls, I switched jobs and began working for a start-up company. I have been at the company for over a year and have helped it move into high growth. But now I am ready for the next adventure in my life, professional baseball in Israel. I can't wait to move to Israel because I hear the people are amazing and the culture is even better. I look forward to sharing more stories with you in the near future and if you have any questions - please don't hesitate to post a comment.
Seriously, I look forward to being in touch with all of you.
