With the Athletes...Abe Streep '04

Author: Andreassano Niccoliano Zimmermannaliazzi

Abe Streep is known in many of the little bubbles that make up the big "Middlebury Bubble". In the "sports bubble" he is the right fielder for Middlebury's baseball team. Among the quirky hobbyists throughout the school, he is known as a fly fisherman. And within the large "music bubble" he is the violinist and mandolin player for the Rt. 7 Ramblers.
Like so many students at Middlebury he falls into the "so much to do, so little time" category. An admissions officer's dream, Streep actually started his college career elsewhere and later transferred to Middlebury. "I actually went to Yale," said Streep, "and transferred here after a semester." His arrival was just in time to help the baseball team in the 2001 season. Admittedly, his first two years at Middlebury, the team did not meet the success it would have hoped for - each year finishing below .500. But Streep was content playing in a NESCAC setting. "Baseball was not fun for me at [Yale]," said Streep who cites that as one of the reasons he decided to leave New Haven. "But I wasn't ready to give [baseball] up. The coaches at Middlebury were nice and the team had its priorities in order."
Its no mystery then, that with its priorities in the right place, the baseball team has turned it around. The 2003 season has been it's best in terms of winning since 2000 when it went 15-14-1 overall. "We've gotten a lot better," Streep said of the team's improvement over his three-year career. "It's been the best year so far. The chemistry in training was great. The team was really getting along and we were going towards the same goal. There didn't seem to be any selfishness either."
Middlebury jumped out of the gate and took early control of the NESCAC standings with sweeps of Hamilton and Wesleyan. With Streep providing serviceable fielding in right and veteran hitting from Jason Hanna '03 and John Prescott '03 the team looked poised to make a post-season appearance for the first time in years. After a three game sweep in Wesleyan, Middlebury stood at 11-4-1. "The wins at Wesleyan were the highlight of my baseball experience so far," Streep said. Middlebury won with good pitching and just four errors over the 25 innings of play. "Everyone played amazingly and I definitely played as well as I ever have," he added.
It was after that weekend that Middlebury's bubble burst. The team was swept by Trinity and could not recover, losing its remaining games including an 11 inning heartbreaker to Amherst Sunday that dashed any postseason hopes. "In the end we were unbelievably unlucky," said Streep of Sunday's loss. "Jason Hanna almost hit a home run to put us ahead but the [Amherst player] caught it at the fence." Ultimately it was two "dinky" ninth inning hits by Amherst of the "seeing-eye single" variety that foiled Middlebury.
"It has been a great season though" added Streep. "It's harder in college to be completely absorbed in baseball. In high school that is what I identified myself with and I had complete faith in the sport. I think this year I got that back. We all had a real fire this season." Streep and the rest of the team all made solid contributions throughout the 2003 campaign. At .340, Streep was second on the team in batting average, collecting 17 hits in 50 official at bats. He and batting average leader, Dave Riester will lead the Panthers next year as they look to take the next step towards success.
Streep admitted his senior year on the baseball team will be "big" as it will most likely mark the last of his competitive baseball days. Baseball, as with most sports, consumes its youthful admirers and leaves them in the prime of their lives with no prospects of continuing. Thanks to Streep's involvement within the other "Middlebury bubbles", he will have plenty to keep him busy after baseball is finished and he leaves Middlebury. "I think I am probably going to fish for a real long time," said Streep, who is an avid fly fisherman. "I'm probably going to be an old man sitting by the creek and maybe playing my fiddle on the side."
His music and his fishing demand his attention when he is not in season for baseball. Streep is the fiddle and mandolin player in the Rt. 7 Ramblers, a band playing among other things, bluegrass and folk favorites. For the second consecutive summer, he and the band will be touring the Northeast with Circus Smircus. Playing background music for a traveling circus has its perks. "We tour with the circus and live in an old school bus," Streep said. "And we're buying our bus, a 36-foot school bus, at the end of the summer for $1."
The band has also made a habit of performing at parties where there is a captive, jovial audience. For Streep, energizing the crowd at a party through his music provides much the same adrenaline rush he gets from performing on the diamond. "You play sports," said Streep, "because it makes you feel for a few moments that everything that you do is really meaningful and its life or death. It's exciting and it gets your blood pumping and it's the same thing with performing sometimes." For him, working to put something together on the diamond has paralleled working to put together good sounding music with his band.
For those solitary times when outside pressure and teamwork are too intense, Streep has his fly fishing. "I've found something I really like in fly fishing," said Streep. Summer work in Montana has brought him to some of the premier fishing locales in the U.S. recalling wilderness, sunshine and the classic fly fishing movie, "A River Runs Through It". It is the only type of fishing Streep wants to do. "For me it seems more active than spin fishing," he said. "It's not just throwing out a line and hoping something hits it. There's more skill involved, in placing the fly, and drifting it right and knowing what to put on."
In fly fishing, Streep has found a lifelong pursuit that he will take outside the Middlebury bubble and into his adult life. After the circus tour this summer, the American Lit major will venture to Breadloaf for the Writer's Conference, pursuing another passion of his - creative writing. Shy to admit another intriguing fact about his life, Abe is indeed related to a successful Hollywood type who bears the same last name. That aside, this Streep is finding his own way, creating a wealth of memorable experiences at Middlebury and setting himself up for many more after he leaves the "bubble".