Dave Tarjick wanted to become a professional baseball player; What he became was a dad

David Tarjick signed the papers in November 2005, along with his wife Melissa. With a few strokes of  the pen, they were parents again, adoptive parents of young Aleah, The Berkshire Eagle wrote.

The Tarjicks had taken in Aleah as foster parents, The Eagle wrote.

"It's just a wonderful thing that we have the ability ... to help an underprivileged child have a safe, happy home," David Tarjick told The Eagle then. "We feel we've given back to the community."

Years earlier, in 1990, a teenage Tarjick worked the clubhouse for the Pittsfield Mets and got his own baseball card.

On the card's it recorded the 16-year-old's aspirations: He wanted to be a professional baseball player. 

He didn't become a professional baseball player. But what he did become was arguably more important. He became a dad.

Tarjick's time with the Pittsfield Mets came while a student at Taconic High School, where he also played baseball.

In Babe Ruth play in 1987, he picked up a win as a pitcher and got two hits. He threw a one-hitter the next month.

At Taconic, Tarjick had an RBI single in a May 1990 game a two-run single in a May 1991 game and three hits in a May 1992 game.

Tarjick later settled in Cheshire, Mass., and he became a police officer.  

In December 2018, New England Public Media featured the Tarjick family in a story on trauma and children. The Tarjicks were foster parents who took in children who had been through trauma and gave them permanent homes. "We have to expect that kids are going to fall apart all over the place," David's wife Melissa told New England Public Media.

The article recounted a scene at the family's swing set, Dave Tarjick joking with their then-3-year-old about her dirty feet. The family then had six children, ages 2 to 16.

• Berkshire Eagle, Nov. 19, 2005: Foster kids find a home on Adoption Day
• New England Public Media, Dec. 14, 2018: 'What Happened To You?' A Western Massachusetts County Takes On Trauma

1990 Minor League Tally 

Players/Coaches Featured:3,651
Made the Majors:1,250-34.2%
Never Made Majors:2,401-65.8%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:521
10+ Seasons in the Minors:308