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BY JAKE COLEMAN / PHOTOGRAPHY BY EVAN S IGMUND

CLEVELAND INDIAN’S PITCHER CHRIS PEREZ AND HIS WIFE MELANIE SHOW LIFE BEYOND THE DIAMOND

Behind the

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s a baseball player, your firstfights for distinguishmentbegin in the community wherefriends, foes and families arebound together in an endless

array of uniform color patterns and stylishticks: players are recognized by socks wornhigh or low, flat or bent brimmed hats, shadesor no shades, the bat they use or the flavorsunflower seeds they prefer. In that circuit,which bustles with local boys until college,Chris Perez isn’t far removed from summercompetitive teams, Manatee High School orIMG’s Baseball Academy. He’s the kid thatgrew up on all the diamonds of the city.

Five years in the majors, he’s come into hisown, a repeat All-Star pitcher lighting upradar guns, stat sheets and tempers. The rockat the end of the Indians bullpen has grown afull beard, ditched the boyish profile andfound his voice as the purveyor of baseballtruths in Cleveland, questioning his team’sspotty fan support as droves attend the floun-dering Browns’ games and anteing up publicaccountability for errant boos at their first-place team. At 27 years old, he’s hit his earlyprime in the sport and, though not old, he ref-erences his early career as “when he wasyoung.” He’s been married four years now tohis wife Melanie, who is expecting their sec-ond child. Melanie is a petite girl fromOceanside, New York, with a clear-eyed sweet-ness shining through her frequent laugh andwarm personality. She is nurturing, but main-tains enough big-city directness as to be nopushover. She has a natural aptitude for lady-like familiarity, the girl who can hang with theguys but still be set apart from them. Chrisand Melanie team up to continually work fora familial equilibrium that coincides with thehefty demands of their third suitor, baseball.

Baseball has it’s own timeline and barome-ter of development, exacting a rigorous stan-dard upon young families in time, distance,absence, loneliness and professional uncer-tainty, the oft-overwhelming concerns ofhuman relationships collectively concentrat-

ed upon two individuals. It’s a grueling lifewhere the assets of the player compared tothe value of his career hourglass can con-stantly redirect his family’s future. Contracts,trades, promotion and demotion to theminors are vibrant concerns. Especially earlyin a player’s career, restlessness and uncer-tainty are inherent variables attached to hisrelationship. Melanie says: “The beginning ofChris’ career… it was the unstableness ofwhere we are and where we’re going andalways wondering ‘alright, can I buy a fullweek of groceries this week or will we besomewhere else?’” There is no designatedtime-table for how long a player may spendwith any of the team’s minor league affiliates,and the average trip to the major leagues forany given ball player first runs through ClassA, Double-A and Triple-A, all located in differ-ent cities. For couples, it can be hectic dealingwith the domestic logistics of the player’smobility within the team’s organization.

Baseball is ultimately a business, and evenplayers who’ve made the majors remain prod-ucts, assets or liabilities for a company that isa team. Neither past performance nor con-tract details guarantee you will be aroundnext season. The Cardinals drafted Chris in2006, and he worked his way up through theminors with what is still much of their coreunit. Despite the team being World Seriescontenders, Chris being young, pitching welland showing a lot of promise, the team tradedhim away to the last place Indians in ’09. “Iwas so young, and I never really thought theCardinals would trade me. I knew I was good,and I just thought ‘why would they trade me?’It happened, and I left behind a lot of friends.Also, I knew nobody on Cleveland,” he recalls.

“It’s like a first day of school at a new school.Everybody’s already got their routine, theirfriends and their clicks. You are just kind ofthat new guy and feel out of place.”

Melanie compares it to a break up of a rela-tionship. “I think the toughest part, and some-one said to me last week, is when you get trad-ed, or someone you become friendly with getstraded, or you have a break up, or they get pro-moted, or demoted within the system, theymay be in your life every single day, and thenall of a sudden, they aren’t in your life at all,except maybe on the phone once in awhile.”She says that for a little while after Chris wastraded, she didn’t want to meet anybodybecause her heart was hurting. “I had just leftall these great friends that I made. Why wouldI want to do it again?” Chris explains: “It’s defi-nitely a business, and you never know what’sgoing to happen. I could go in there today, andsomebody gets traded or we’ve traded forsomebody and you just kind of start all overtrying to get to know them.”

He says once you do have a friend and theystay in the game, you are friends forever. It’sfunny how you may not talk during the off sea-son but pick right back up at spring trainingthe next year. Melanie’s been able to graduallyopen up to new friendships as well and pointsout that it has a silver lining. “I get to meet newwomen and learn how to deal with other peo-ple’s personalities. It’s definitely helped mebecome a more well-rounded person.”

For Melanie, being a ball player’s wife and amother is her full-time profession, one ofmanagerial versatility. She performs a rangeof roles requiring various skill sets that arenecessary to facilitate their life, and althoughmothering their 2-year-old son Maxwell is her

a “It’s definitely a business, and you never know what’s going to happen. I could go in there today, and somebody gets traded or we’ve traded for somebody and you just kind of start all over trying to get to know them.” —Chris Perez

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principal priority, it’s still just one of thedomestic identities she assumes within thehousehold. “She does most of it,” Chris says. “Iwear one hat. I’m the ball player. She wearsall the different hats: she’s mom; she’s thetravel agent; she’s the housing agent; she’severything. She really takes care of a lot ofstuff. She pays the bills because I’m alwaystraveling. She’s more than just a homemakerand stay-at-home Mom.”

It’s hard, Melanie relates, and doubtless, itmust be a challenge to have so much of liferevolving around one family member.“Sometimes,” she says, “I think of myself as asingle mom. I’m the main part in our chil-dren’s lives. When Chris isn’t here, it’s justme, and we don’t have family here during theseason so really everything relies heavily onme to keep the family together. So, it’s prettydifficult. That’s how it is for all the baseballfamilies. I think that you get used to it. I’mpretty used to it.” Packing is one of herbiggest challenges, and she says it takes herforever. The most personal touch that they

have in their house right now is a digital pic-ture frame she hardly turns on. “It’s not thatI don’t want to take the time to do it. I don’twant to pack it up. So, I just try to keep it assimple as possible, which maybe doesn’t helpit feel so homey, but I feel like that, as long aswe’re here, it’s home enough.”

During season, Chris’ work scheduledetermines the script based off whether theteam is home or away. When he’s home,Melanie gets up with Max. Chris wakes uplate morning in time for lunch togetherbefore he reports to the field between 1:30and 2:30pm for the standard night gamestart of 7:05pm EST. Once he’s gone to thefield, Melanie has an afternoon activity withMax, then puts him down for a nap. Whenit’s time, they go to the game, where child-care is provided at the field.

When the Indians are on the road,Melanie’s mornings are more hectic since shedoesn’t have Chris there to assist and shedoesn’t have a babysitter at the field to takecare of Max during a game. For Chris, life on

the road depends on what city he’s in. For thisinterview, he’s in Baltimore where he’s seenall the sights. So he’s playing his PlayStationin the room and relaxing. “It’s kind of lonelysometimes,” says Chris. “Some trips, we go tothree different cities and Melanie can’t cometo any of them. It’s just a lot of talking on thephone, Skype-ing and stuff, but I can’t reallysee my son or anything. Other cities likeChicago or New York, I go out and just walkaround and look at stuff.”

The baseball season is eight months long,and half of that is spent away from home.Chris says the life takes maturity on and offthe field. If he were drafted out of highschool, he doesn’t think he would have madeit. Being on the road the first time can bedifficult, he says, and for young players inthe minors, it’s easy for guys to hit the pit-falls of poor off-field decisions, women andnot taking care of their bodies. Chris admitsit’s tough on relationships, and that Melanieand he have addressed him going out withthe guys. “We’ve had to go through thoseconversations, and she has to trust me a lot.Luckily she does, and she has no reason notto. It’s hard. It’s not easy. That’s why—I don’tknow the exact numbers—the divorce ratefor athletes is terrible.”

Chris and Melanie have become travel pro-fessionals. He credits Melanie for knowing herway around an airport. Melanie cites lastminute plane trips, cross-country moves, siteunseen apartment accommodations and run-ning both their permanent residence and sea-son housing simultaneously.

“Being a mommy and baseball wiferequires a ton of organization, patience, quickthinking actions, energy and flexibility, beingmommy and daddy, entertaining the kids,keeping spirits up and making a home for thefamily in any environment,” she says.

“She runs, if you will, our company,” saysChris. “It frees me up to do my job. Obviously,I bring the money home, but I obviouslycouldn’t do my job if I had all these differentthings to worry about. She really clears it upand lets me focus on baseball during the sea-son. She’s really good at that.” !

“Sometimes I think of myself as a single mom. I’m the main part in ourchildren’s lives. When Chris isn’t here, it’s just me, and we don’thave family here during season so really everything relies heavily onme to keep the family together.” —Melanie Perez

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