Imagine a former baseball star, Phillippe Aumont, who walked away from the game to become a farmer. But here's the twist: he's back on the mound, ready to pitch for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic.
Aumont's journey is an inspiring tale of finding purpose beyond the diamond. After retiring in 2020, he purchased 220 acres of land in his hometown in Quebec, Canada, and started a farm. His first venture into farming? Pigs!
» READ MORE: Ex-Phillie Vance Worley's journey to the WBC with Team Britain.
"I used to wear my IronPigs gear to wrestle the pigs and move them," Aumont, now 37, reminisced. But even 400 miles away from the Lehigh Valley, baseball memories lingered.
"It's fun, but it also feels like a curse. You can't let him go. It was you your whole life. But you have to let him go. It took me a while," Aumont shared about his struggle to leave baseball behind.
Aumont's baseball life may be over, but his arm still has stories to tell. This month, he'll pitch against the Phillies in Clearwater, Florida, a place he last pitched in 2015 as a struggling Phillie.
"Let's say you see Daniel Radcliffe and you're like, 'Holy s—. That's Harry Potter.' But, no, it's Daniel Radcliffe. It was always, 'Hey, Phillippe. He's the guy who plays for the Phillies.' There was no human to it. At some point, you're like, 'OK, I need to make a separation, and I need to find an identity,'" Aumont explained.
In 2020, Aumont spent spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays, but the pandemic closed training, and he returned to Canada. The birth of his first daughter made him question the baseball lifestyle, and when a farm in his hometown went on sale, he and his wife, Frédérique, seized the opportunity.
"I loved baseball, but I didn't love it as much as I loved my kid. I just felt like there was a shift in priority back then, and I made a decision based on that. No regrets," Aumont said.
The Aumonts named their farm La Ferme Pure Alternative, and they focused on raising chickens, rabbits, and pigs, selling meat, and keeping horses.
"I was raised on real meat. I'm going to die on real meat. We're going to try to produce clean food as much as we can for a decent amount of money. We're not trying to sell filet mignon for 75 bucks a pound," Aumont shared.
Aumont now works an administrative job with the Canadian government and is studying to become a building inspector. He's found peace in his new life, waking up to the sound of the rooster on his farm.
"We enjoy peace. We get our bits of society interaction when we want to. Other than that, we stay on the farm and raise our two daughters and produce our own meat. Then I play baseball when they need an old 37-year-old retired guy," Aumont said.
And when Aumont returns to Philadelphia, it won't just be as a baseball player. It'll be as a farmer, a husband, a dad, and a friend, with a unique perspective on life and a heart full of memories.
