Pablo Feldman: Great Player. Great Actor. Best Teammate.
The story about a kid from Mill Valley who had the dream of being an Actor in Hollywood and playing professional baseball and how he was able to accomplish a little bit of both.
Full name: Pablo “Pabs” Matthew Feldman
Hometown: Mill Valley, California
Date of Birth: August 28th, 1995 (23 years old)
High School: Tamalpais High School
College: Emerson College in Boston, MA
Grade/Graduation Year: Senior, Class of 2020
Major: Acting
Early Life
Growing up in a family with two older brothers who played the sport, it is very easy to see where the inherent love for the game came from for Pablo. “There was always a ball flying around the house or in the backyard.”
Although he didn’t play it until he was 9, Pablo was always around the game and he loved it telling me “I always loved watching them (his 2 older brother) play and going to Candlestick park and then Pac bell park to watch the giants fostered some of my greatest memories.”
The love for acting also goes all the way back for Pablo. “I always acted in my living rooms, putting on small made up plays for my family in exchange for a quarter or two.” From here he would come to realize how much he enjoyed it and found himself in one of the lead roles for his annual class play every year.
The passion simply never seemed to go away, Pablo told me, “I just enjoyed being up there in front of people and trying to put on the skin of another human being.” He would would carry this with him to high school.
High School
Attending “Tam High” as Pablo refers to it, he was able to continue his acting and baseball career. Here he would develop his amazing sense of leadership and hard work ethic as Emerson College Teammate Anthony Pugliese mentioned when talking about Pablo. “Pablo’s personality reflects what you want in every baseball player. Leadership, camaraderie, and passion for the team.”
The School had a freshman, junior varsity, and varsity team. Pablo would never play on the freshman team, as he would skip it all together playing on JV for two seasons.
Freshman year, Pablo secured a staring spot playing in all 18 games for the Red Tailed Hawks. He hit .294 with 3 doubles and 7 rbi’s, while slugging .352 and having an on base percentage of .452. Pablo also gunned out 11 runners trying to steal on him behind the dish.
Sophomore year saw much of the same production for Pablo. His Junior year however, Pablo would faced with adversity. He had to sit behind a senior catcher. He told me, “At the time I was pissed off and it fueled me to work harder than ever.” After practice he would stay and set up lights to hit in the dark and be in the cage every Sunday, which was the teams off day. The team would finish (16–11) as Pablo would only appear in 12 of those games producing 6 hits.
2014, Pablo’s Senior campaign, would be a magical one for the Red Tailed Hawks. They would finish the season (23–8), earning a trip to the Division 3 North Coast Section tournament as the number 3 seed. They would win 3 games before hosting the 8 seeded Alhambra Bulldogs in the Championship Game. They would put up three runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and never look back securing a 3–1 win and State Championship. “The feeling of dog piling on the mound will always be one of the best feelings possible.”
“Tam high” also offered Pablo a very good acting program which he was involved with but really didn’t take full advantage of until his Junior year. “hat first main stage show, The Arabian Nights, was my first taste of what I could really do as an actor.” He would act in many other plays over his last two years at the school, but also, “directed freshman and sophomore actors in multiple one-act plays, light designed shows, and really just tried to master the craft.”
Pablo would be thrilled to find out he was accepted into Emerson College, because of it’s historic theatre program. He made it seem as though the decision was a no brainer, “After I got into the theatre department here it felt like I couldn’t say no. It was too big of an opportunity to pass up. I knew that I had to play baseball as well and this was the only place in the country that I felt like I could do both at a serious level.”
Emerson College
Pablo flew out to Boston and began on his journey at Emerson College. He told me it was definitely different than what he had become accustomed to at his High School. “ I came from a place that breathed baseball in a lot of different ways and they really had pounded how to play the game the right way into me”.
Little did he know he would fit in perfectly with the team, instantly becoming close with second semester transfer students Nolan Megna and Henry Shwartz. Megna told me, “Taking the field with him day in and day out brought us so much closer, not only as teammates, but as friends most importantly.” Pablo would play in 28 games his freshman year, recording 18 hits and a .198 batting average with 9 rbi’s. The Team struggled greatly going (2–27) overall.
Sophomore year, Pablo would continue to be a huge part of the team. The difference was there was a new coach, Alumni Nicholas Venocchi took over at the helm. “Obviously there was a lot of work to do but we had definitely a more solid base”. He would use this as a year to establish himself as a leader on the team, playing in 31 games. This was probably Pablo’s best year statistically with 27 hits 6 of which were doubles, to go along with 16 rbi’s and a .243 batting average. The lions would continue there struggle, finishing last in the NEWMAC again with a record of (4–28).
Junior year was a whole other demon. He was voted co-captain of the team along with junior Henry Schwartz who had nothing but praise for his counterpart saying , “being named captain with Pablo I knew everything would be just fine. He is the perfect type of person to be a leader. He’s a leader in everything he does he sets the tone and leads by example.” He would do just that during the season, making sure his guys not only went to practice but were putting in work in his own time always being conscious of his new role, “I just brought that attitude into junior year. Maybe there were a few guys watching because of that captain title and I hope I could help them out a little. On the field Pablo would lead the way for the Lions statistically once again, getting 22 hits and 12 rbi’s with a .256 average. This would be the best year for the Lions since joining the NEWMAC recording 8 wins.
Senior year brought Pablo a lot of emotions who said, “Watching so many guys hang up the cleats before me, I never really imagined myself in that spot”. He would finish his amazing career strong. In just 4 years Pablo Feldman played in 115 games and had 91 hits, 16 of which were doubles, giving him a career average of .233, career on base percentage of .318, and slugging percentage of .274. In the field he would make just 37 career errors, while throwing out 37 runners. “I didn’t want senior year to be any different because I have no regrets for how I’ve always played the game. It’s always been the same way for me since I started at nine years old.”
The Lions would win only 7 games, but you could feel that Pablo had definitely left a mark forever. “ I always wanted to create a real baseball culture here where guys played the game the right way. I see the tide definitely turning towards that direction a lot here. I have a lot of faith that the younger guys can really make this a team wide mentality.”
Acting/Career
Pablo, was not only a baseball player, but an actor as well. This was not an easy task as he points out, “I feel like it (acting at Emerson) has honestly changed me as a person. It helped make me realize the sacrifice and dedication that I have to put in. It also helped me realize how much I love acting and that it is the only thing I can do with my life.”
Pablo was definitely up to the challenge, using the his work ethic to power through it. 4-year teammate Henry Schwartz didn’t fail to mention this, “There is a reason why he’s the only acting major from Emerson ever to play any sport. Because nobody grinds and has the work ethics and drive that Pablo has.”
For the future Pablo has many goals and aspirations. It all begins in New York as he tells me , “I’ll be working both for TV/Film and on the stage. I’ve put a lot of time and thought into what the future holds and to where my dreams can take me and now it’s time to put it into action.”
