Bronson Arroyo Pitches Into The Boating Zone

Growing up in the Florida Keys, pro baseball star Bronson Arroyo was no stranger to the water. "Both my parents are from Key West so I was around the water most of my childhood, whether on a boat, or fishing off a pier," he says. Arroyo's parents weren't really big boaters, but that didn't stop him from dreaming of one day owning his own. "I remember I'd see all these Sea Rays and I'd tell my family, 'I'm going to buy one of those someday.'" Luckily for Arroyo, thanks to his pitching skills, that dream didn't have to wait long to be realized.

Currently with the Cincinnati Reds, he made his major-league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000, before moving on to the legendary Boston Red Sox in 2003. Three years later, he moved to Cincinnati. That's when he started thinking seriously about buying a boat. "I wanted one I could stay the night on. I never really thought of having an open fisherman because I wanted something that would be comfortable enough to go out and anchor and stay for a couple of days."

Bronson didn't sell himself short with his first boat purchase, buying a 48-foot Sea Ray Sundancer. "People usually ask, how many boats did you have before this," he laughs. "I can handle it, but I have a childhood buddy who grew up with me in the Keys, who captains it for me."

Given his day job, and the cold Cincinnati winters, you might think The Nasty Hook is a little-used vessel. "Not so," says Arroyo. "You always hear stories of people buying boats and then they just sit there. I didn't want that to happen. I'm on the road about 80 days a year but I actually do use it a lot. We're in Cincinnati for about 85 days, and I have the boat up there in the summer. After ball games, my buddy will pick me up right outside the stadium. The river goes right by it. There are a bunch of different places you can go around there, little bars and restaurants where you can hang out, on the river."

When the weather gets cooler, the boat moves to Tampa. "In the off-season, I use it a couple of days a week in Tampa and bring out high-school friends and guys from other teams. We'll go out to different islands between there and St. Petersburg. I think boating is always going to be a part of my life now. I just enjoy being out on the water so much. You feel so free out on the ocean. I cook up a couple of hamburgers and it's just so great and peaceful. I don't know when and where, but I'll probably get one more boat at some point, but that could be 10 or 20 years from now."