R.A. DICKEY is married to Anne and has two daughters and two sons. A born-again

Christian, he helps operate the Ocala, Florida-based Honoring the Father Ministries which

provides medical supplies, powdered milk, and baseball equipment to the impoverished in

Latin America.

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A 2010 New York Times article reported that Dickey is an avid reader and that at the time,

the stack of books in his locker included Life of Pi by Yann Martel and a collection of works

by C. S. Lewis. Dickey has said that if he had not become a professional athlete, he would

have become an English professor. Dickey named his bats for literary swords--Orcrist the

Goblin Cleaver (from The Hobbit) and Hrunting (from Beowulf). Dickey's at-bat

introduction song was the theme from Game of Thrones.

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In November 2011, Dickey announced that he would risk his 2012 season salary

($4,250,000) to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro; he credits this aspiration to his

boyhood reading of Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro. While climbing Mt.

Kilimanjaro, he set out to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking in India. His

climb was in support of an organization called "Bombay Teen Challenge" that

ministers to victims of human trafficking and their children in the heart of the red-light

districts. Dickey returned from this trip in January 2012 with Mets bullpen catcher Dave

Racaniello and the Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Kevin Slowey, and together raised

over $100,000. His 2011 season was followed in the documentary film Knuckleball!

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His autobiography, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect

Knuckleball, written along with New York Daily News reporter Wayne Coffey, was released

in 2012. In the book, Dickey reports suffering sexual abuse as an 8-year-old child by a

13-year-old female babysitter, and later by a teenage male, and discusses his struggles

with suicidal thoughts as an adult. In September 2012, Dial Press announced a deal with

Dickey to publish three books, including a children's version of his memoir.

In 2013, Dickey appeared in a video for I Am Second describing his suicide attempt,

history of abuse, and becoming a born-again Christian.