Former Flyer enjoys being a ‘family man’ in summer without baseball

Blevins is a baseball fan first and loves watching the best in the world play the game. He’s also contributed his voice as an analyst for SportsNet New York, appearing on broadcasts remotely from his home in Findlay, Ohio.

This month, Blevins has also spent time promoting the sale of a T-shirt he designed.

“Baseball & Voting = USA,” Blevins wrote on Twitter. “So, I designed a T-shirt for BOTH! 100% of net profits go to @RockTheVote.”

Summing up the year, Blevins said last week, “Right now I’m just enjoying being a family man."

Blevins signed with the San Francisco Giants in January. They released him in April when all of Major League Baseball was shut down. If not for the coronavirus pandemic, he probably would have tried to latch on to another team. Instead, he decided it was the perfect time because of his age — he turned 37 in September — and the situation in baseball to not pursue another opportunity in the 2020 season.

For six-plus months, Blevins has been home with his wife Whitney, Ellis and their youngest son Ascher, who turns 1 this month, in Findlay, not far from where he went to high school in Arcadia.

“I’ve just been enjoying the quiet time,” Blevins said. “This is my first summer in Ohio without baseball since I was 10 or before that. I’m not sure what I’m going to do going into next year. I’m not sure if I’m going to play. I’m kind of leaning toward retirement. There’s a few scenarios that would open up and kind of help me move off that. There’s a couple of best-case scenarios. But I’m not there yet. I don’t have to be. It’ll be probably around Halloween time when I really get the itch to kind of see if I want to put my body through the rigors of another offseason to get ready. Right now, right now I’m just enjoying not playing and watching the playoffs and rooting for Craig (Stammen) out in San Diego.”

Blevins said last week he would root for a Padres-A’s World Series. He debuted with the A’s in 2007 and spent seven seasons with the team. He also loves the New York Mets because he spent parts of four seasons with them. Blevins' career also includes seasons with the Washington Nationals — he was a teammate of the fellow Flyer Stammen in 2014 — and the Atlanta Braves.

Blevins had a 3.90 ERA in 45 relief appearances last season in Atlanta. His career ERA after 609 appearances stands at 3.54. If he never pitches again, those are great numbers — especially for a 17th-round pick in 2004 who only got a chance at the University of Dayton after walking onto the team.

Back in the spring when Blevins and Whitney talked about his future. he told her, “If this is it, I had a great run. I’m proud of where I was. I got way beyond, way more than I could have ever asked for out of baseball. If this is the end, I’ll hang my cleats up with a smile on my face. The only thing missing was that World Series ring. If this is, I got 10 years of service and got to be a baseball player as a job. That’s insane to even think about it.”»

The health of his left arm, even after 362 2/3 innings in the minors and 495 1/3 innings at the big-league level, isn’t an issue.

“It’s probably the best I’ve felt in five or six years,” Blevins said. “Spring training is always kind of a strange place because I’m so used to working out indoors. The University of Findlay here opens up the doors to me unless they work outside, but it’s cold in Ohio in the wintertime. So when spring training starts, it’s my first time being outside on the grass on the dirt. It takes a little bit of getting used to. The older your body gets, the harder it is and the longer that transition is.”

Blevins felt incredible this spring in Arizona, though he was unable to make the Giants roster after signing a minor-league contract.

“If I didn’t have it anymore, that would be an easy way to hang up the cleats and call it a career,” Blevins said, “but I still feel really good. If there’s an opportunity out there that’s perfect for our family, it’ll definitely be a deciding factor in how I feel.”

When baseball shut down March 12, Blevins extended the family’s lease in Arizona for a month because they didn’t know how long the stoppage would last. He played catch in a park with teammates for a while when there was still hope baseball would resume soon.

When it was obvious baseball wouldn’t return until the summer, Blevins rented an RV and drove home to Ohio with his family and their dog. They took their time on the trip, spending 10 days on the road.

“It was a pretty great experience,” Blevins said. “I did all the driving, so my wife handled the boys for the most part. We stayed at KOAs (campgrounds) across the country on our way through. Our country is a beautiful place. I’ve driven back and forth to spring training a bunch of my own. It’s just a beautiful experience. My boys are a little bit too young to appreciate it. But knowing how diverse this country is — not just in people but in landscape — and to be able to have an excuse to take a look at it and appreciate it, I’m all for it. I love driving anyway. It was a nice little change of pace. You really slow the slow your world down and enjoy the ride.”

That has remained his philosophy in recent months as he has tried to soak up his first summer without baseball. He’s been fortunate that he has spent every month since Ascher’s birth, which happened after last season ended, with the family. That’s not always the case with big-league players. It wasn’t the case when Ellis was born in 2018.

“I got lucky to have him on a homestand,” Blevins said, “so the first 10 days of his life, I was with him and then immediately I had to go on the road for 10 days. That separation is hard.”

Being home for an extended time has been the silver lining in a year without baseball.

“Baseball pulls you away," Blevins said, “and you have to pourr so much of your concentration and life into it that you neglect some of those relationships that you have back home. I’ve just been trying to be a better friend and better relative to everybody around me.”