Braves Buddy Carlyle discusses family life and travel

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Earl "Buddy" Carlyle is a husband to wife Jessica and a father to four-year-old son Carter and one-year-old daughter Kennedy, but he did not want to carry on the family tradition of his first name, even though it comes from his father and grandfather.  He said,

No, the chain is broken. I don’t have a kingdom, so I figured after three, we should shut it down.

Although Buddy is currently in the major leagues that was not always the case.  In 2000, he went overseas to play in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and had to adjust to life in a new country. He states,

My first year [in Japan in 2000], I was engaged. The second year, I wasmarried and we were expecting Carter. Kennedy was born last year in theU.S. I was in Korea. I signed with Korea in May, flew there for twoweeks and came home for Kennedy’s birth. I went back after two days.Jessica and Kennedy didn’t come over to Korea, but a friend of minebrought Carter over for 16 days. It was great to have him there. Wewere in Seoul. I think the thing he liked the best was that he got toride the subway every day.

The family of four has traveled a lot during Buddy’s career–San Diego, Las Vegas, Japan, Atlanta and many more places. However, the family absolutely loves and thrives on it, according to dad.

I think we’ve all done really well with it, because we all like totravel. In the offseason, sometimes we’ll sit around and feel kind ofbored because everything’s the same. When Spring Training comes around,we’re ready to go. That might change when our kids get a little older.Carter loves to go to different places, and I think he’s lived in 10different cities and he’s only 4 years old. We’re so used to it that itfeels normal. Certainly without Jessica being as adaptable and willingto sacrifice as much as she has, this wouldn’t be possible.

Buddy admits that son Carter has had an interesting life for a child his age and that it has made him perceptive to his surroundings and people including fellow Braves player Andruw Jones’ son, Druw. Buddy admits,

Yeah, when they get together, it’s like listening to an ESPN broadcast.They’re always talking about the game, the details of the game. It’samazing to hear those two guys talk about baseball.

With a loving family, Buddy knows that if his baseball career comes to an end that he is still very blessed.  He states,

I realize that if for some reason I can’t play baseball, my life isn’tover. I have a beautiful wife, two great kids and know I’m fullycapable of doing something else. I’ve worked as hard as I can when I’mpitching, between starts and during the offseason. If I’ve done allthat and it’s not good enough, what else can I do? And how could I beangry about that?

Source: Atlanta Braves Official Site