Money matters for Gerut

On Sunday, Jody Gerut’s wife threw him a retirement party.

Gerut doesn’t turn 65 until 2042, but it was technically the right name for the celebration.

After earning 1,992 major-league plate appearances over six seasons and five teams — including a two-week run with the Cubs in 2005 — Gerut announced his retirement on Feb. 27 while trying to make the Seattle Mariners.

To be more truthful, the 1995 Willowbrook High School called it quits because he worried the Mariners might actually ask for his help in the outfield.

“In years before, I saw an opportunity and it was exciting,” Gerut said. “This was the first time I felt uneasy about making a team. I thought, ‘Oh, my God. I might make this team.’

“It’s hard to put a finger on what was governing that (train of thought). I didn’t have a thirst to play anymore. I didn’t have a willingness to compete anymore.”

One of the factors? Gerut and his wife, Mary Swain, are expecting a son in September. That will give them three children under the age of 3.

“I don’t want to be the absentee dad,” said Gerut, who makes his home in Oak Park.

He said he felt bizarre, yet great, to get to spend the last two weeks on vacation with his family in Oregon.

“There is life during summer,” he said. “It’s kind of fun to have a Chicago summer.”

Another factor? As you might expect from a young man with a Stanford diploma, Gerut has never been solely about baseball.

He used to let a brokerage coordinate his investments. But after being unsatisfied with the performance and the direction of his portfolio, Gerut increased his own research.

He studied the Wall Street Journal and The Economist and other financial news several hours per day. He hired analysts to find investments that suited him better. He started his own investment fund.

“I’ve been managing my own money for several years,” Gerut said.

Gerut’s reputation spread during his final seasons in major-league baseball. When he’d have his laptop open sitting at his locker during downtime, teammates would wander over and ask about the squiggly lines on his screen.

“I’d be looking at the day’s S&P 500 or whatever,” Gerut said. “A bunch of guys followed me into investments. I couldn’t give them advice, but I could say, ‘This is what I’m doing.’”

Now that Gerut no longer deals with the day-to-day grind of professional baseball, he’s free to expand his business interests. He’s almost done studying for his Series 65 license, which would allow him to be a registered investment adviser.

Several of the teammates he helped have offered to lend their names to the cause when Gerut passes the exam and kick-starts his business.

“The asset-management portion of it is my bread-and-butter,” he said. “It’s what I’m comfortable with.”

But Gerut hopes to devote much of his financial expertise to a more noble cause: stopping millionaire athletes from moving into the poor house shortly after retirement.

“I’m very passionate about bankruptcy prevention,” he said. “I’m sick of reading about athletes losing their money.”

As Sports Illustrated wrote last year, nearly 80 percent of NFL players verge toward bankruptcy within two years of retirement while 60 percent of NBA players file for bankruptcy within five years of retiring.

“I did a bunch of research,” Gerut said. “It’s not as simple as ‘they spent too much’ or ‘they bought too much bling.’

“They do need to control spending, but you need to make sure a guy is being treated fairly by everyone in his life.

“There’s a huge, huge need for this.”

ŸLindsey Willhite’s Suburban Sports Reunion column appears Tuesdays. If there is a former athlete or coach you’d like to see profiled, contact Lindsey at lwillhite@dailyherald.com.