Ryan Kalish - Spreading Hope, Love, and Humanity

Jeff Perro
Oct 22
6 min read

Former Red Sox and Cubs outfielder Ryan Kalish, has incredible humanitarian pursuits halfway around the world from the Major League outfields he once patrolled.

Ryan Kalish was a talented outfielder whose promising baseball career was derailed by injuries. As a standout multi-sport athlete at Red Bank Catholic High School in New Jersey, he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the ninth round of the 2006 MLB Draft and signed for an above-slot bonus, a sign of the team’s high hopes for him. Kalish quickly impressed in the minors, especially during his breakout 2009 season when he hit .329 with 18 home runs, 77 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases between Single-A and Double-A, earning Boston’s Minor League Offensive Player of the Year award.

He made his major-league debut for the Red Sox on July 31, 2010, and played in 53 games that season, batting .252 with four home runs and 24 RBIs, including two grand slams—a team rookie record. Known for his athleticism, speed, and defensive versatility across all three outfield positions, Kalish appeared poised for a long MLB career.

However, in April of 2011 while playing for AAA Pawtucket, he suffered injuries during a collision in the outfield. He would require surgery on his right shoulder, later his neck, then the right shoulder again. Those injuries and others severely hampered his progress and kept him off the field for long stretches. After his time in Boston, Kalish signed with the Chicago Cubs, playing parts of the 2014 and 2016 seasons.

From 2011 through 2016, Ryan only appeared in 289 games, averaging less than 50 a season. That total includes zero games in 2013 and 2015. He was known for his hard-nosed style of play and it likely shortened his career.

"I've had 14 orthopedic surgeries,"

"In the end," says Ryan Kalish, "it was just that the surgery itself really just didn't do what I needed it to do. It just didn't work. My right knee was in a lot of pain. I wasn't enjoying the game anymore because of the pain. I was in Connecticut. It was cold. I was playing an independent ball and I just realized 'You know what? I've squeezed all the juice out of this iron and it's time to move on.' It was pretty obvious."

When his playing career came to an end, Ryan Kalish found himself without a clear direction forward. "I had no idea what I was gonna do," he said. "I was completely messed up. Life was scary. I was freaking out. If I have to be honest with you, I really was not in a good place. Luckily I found Pilates to move into because I was starting to really get depressed and even venture into the suicidal thought category."

Ryan began doing Pilates while rehabbing that 14th surgery. He started with very basic motions but quickly moved into very advanced stuff. Pilates improved his body physically while also bringing his mind out of misery. He took his interest further by becoming an instructor.

"I got a world renowned degree through this company called BASI Pilates," he states. "But what drew me to it was it was gentle on the body. It had a real mind body meditative energy to it. It just helped me to start feeling good and gave me the idea that I could actually do something outside of baseball. That was huge for me because it was not something that my mind thought was possible. I thought that, you know, outside of being a coach, I would be worthless and I wouldn't be able to do anything, which for many of us is what we feel."

Kalish also founded Birdman Bats with a group of friends that includes former teammate Lars Anderson. He's still involved in that endeavor, but moving halfway around the world has slightly lessened his engagement.

"I haven't lived in the United States in nearly six years now."

Ryan Kalish has been living in Thailand nearly a year after spending four and a half years in Indonesia. Kalish continues, "My wife and I met in Indonesia. We had a baby and a real estate business in Indonesia. Essentially what happened was, my daughter started coughing due to the high pollution. We needed a place that we were pretty close to our business, but we needed to get out of Indonesia. So we went to Thailand. We found this really nice little town where you can essentially walk everywhere that you need; gym, beach, groceries, whatnot. We just tried a few places and we got a visa here while managing the business from about a three hour flight away. It's a really nice setup for us. It's a quiet life. My daughter loves it. She's not coughing anymore, which is the most important thing."

Why would an American professional player of America's National Pastime decide to leave America?

"I didn't really feel like I fit into [American] society anymore," answers Kalish. "I wasn't working a nine to five job. I wanted to be an expat. I wanted to go try the world. In America, you need to plan for retirement. I just said no to that and I left. I tried a few things and ultimately I just met a really nice other expat already running a [real estate] business there and he taught me everything he knew, and that was it. I really liked it because it involved being outside a lot, being on the land, finding land, building and yeah, just found my way man. I think a lot of us have a lot of limiting beliefs in life and I've definitely found out that most of what we think we can't do isn't true. If you have the willpower and at least enough financial capacity to push through something, we can do a lot more than we think we can."

"We show up for one reason, because love calls us to."

Besides his time in Thailand and Indonesia, Ryan Kalish has explored many other exotic parts of the planet. He's become a humanitarian activist, visiting several poorer regions of the world, bringing aid to neglected, exploited, and impoverished people.

Ryan explains, "I had a spiritual awakening that kind of linked me to the spirit of Jesus. It's a very long story, very traumatic, but also very inspiring. But essentially, it kind of showed me the dark night of the soul of man. It put me through a lot of deep and dark moments, which ultimately helped me to... awaken."

"Jesus was really all about humanitarian activists and someone who was going to get his hands dirty and was going to stick up for the oppressed," he continues. " I said, 'You know what, if you feel so connected to him, start living like him.' And that's basically what I've done. You know, obviously like day and time are very different than 2000 years ago and I have a wife and a daughter. I can't necessarily renounce all my possessions and give everything away, but I'm certainly doing a lot of giving away."

Ryan Kalish has traveled the world this year in service of others—visiting Uganda four times, helping orphans in Jordan, spending time in Tanzania, and assisting Palestinians in Egypt. In the United States, he’s brought his message of hope to communities in Austin, Texas. When back home in Thailand, he devotes his time to distributing food and water to locals in need.

The vast majority of Ryan's work has been DIY, without the help of any government or non-government organizations. Kalish spends out of pocket for his transportation, the goods he distributes, and all other expenses. He's started The Hope of Life Fund. The fund is a very simple crowd sourced fundraising account with very low overhead. A very high percentage of the money raised goes from the account to those in need of help. This method provides him complete autonomy. "I simply just take myself, go to these places, and take action," says Kalish.

He is open to working with a partner, however, the right partnership has yet to come along. He hasn't found a group he trusts to properly allocate their funds effectively. He parallels his situation to that of an amateur baseball player. He says, "I just do the work. If somebody sees what I'm doing and says, 'Wow, that guy does some good stuff. I'd like to hire him or work with him, then cool."

The world today seems to be slipping into decline, marked by deep moral, social, and environmental erosion. Our children stand to inherit a world far harsher than the one we received. Humanity was once a race of promise, but risks becoming a cautionary tale, unless we rediscover empathy for the ones who come after us. "I have a kid and I see the way the world's divided," says Ryan Kalish. "I see the worst picking up. All these things are going on and I feel like this upcoming generation is really going to look at what their parents did and wonder like, 'What did they do?' I kind of want my daughter to be proud. I also want to make a difference because she's going to have to grow up in whatever we leave behind. So I think for me, one of the things that I keep saying is, 'If you believe that you can't make an impact or change the world, you won't.' Even little, little things."

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