Former All-Star closer Brad Lidge is now an archaeologist

Some retired MLB players become coaches. Some retired MLB players become broadcasters. Former All-Star closer Brad Lidge chose a different path.

The Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies standout, who retired from MLB in 2013, is now a working archaeologist and recently joined the Board of Advisors of the Penn Museum , one of the largest archaeological museums in the United States. Lidge told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2024 he was preparing to pursue a Ph. D.

in the field, and he’s been busy since then, working on dig sites and researching the Etruscans, an ancient civilization in Italy swallowed by the Roman empire. His interest in the field reportedly goes back to his world history classes in high school, and it wound up being his post-baseball passion. From the Penn Musuem: “When I was first trying to figure out what I was going to do after baseball, I had a strong inclination toward religious archaeology.

My bachelor’s degree was in religious studies, so I thought about going to the Holy Land to excavate. But by then my kids weren’t as little, and for the first time, we had a summer available to us as a family. I thought it might make more sense to look at Europe.