KELLY Ty

General
REPRESENTING ISRAEL
He is able to play for Israel through his mother, who lost numerous family members in the holocaust. His father is Catholic, and he said he enjoyed learning about both religions growing up. "Well, there are two sides to every story, and there are two sides to my name, I guess. My dad's side of the family is Catholic, and my mum's side is Jewish, so I got the privilege of experiencing two religions growing up. When my mum's side of the family was over, we were learning about the basic Jewish stuff and when my dad's side was over it was all about Christianity and everything. It was a good mix of both." (irishcentral.com, 27 Feb 2017; thestar.com, 11 Jan 2017)

RETIREMENT
In August 2019 he announced his retirement from professional baseball on his Twitter account. From 2009 to 2019 he spent most of his career in the highest level of the minor leagues, Triple-A, for a number of MLB-affiliated teams. He also played 118 total games in the MLB between 2016 and 2018 for the New York Mets, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Philadelphia Phillies. His main position is third base, but he has played every position [except catcher] on the field while playing in the minor leagues. (cbssports.com, 25 Aug 2019, Twitter profile, 25 Aug 2019; metsmerizedonline.com, 06 Dec 2018; milb.com, 26 Aug 2019; recordnet.com, 24 May 2016; nytimes.com, 25 May 2016)

DIET
He became a vegan in order to stay in shape and remain true to his ideals about the treatment of animals. "It's a lot of peanut butter sandwiches pre-game and stuff like that. At home I have a lot of frozen black bean and quinoa patties and boca burger patties. So post-game I can always go home and make that. But on the road it's a lot of ordering food and being ready for a couple meals a day." (vegnews.com, 24 Aug 2018; northjersey.com, 23 Aug 2018)