Small Talk: Clay Buchholz Reveals His Favorite Thing About Boston

In this week’s edition of “Small Talk,” Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz answers the big questions from little kids.

1. Where’s your favorite place to go on vacation?
I’ve gone to (Red Sox outfielder Shane) Victorino’s (charity) event in Hawaii a couple times, and Maui’s a pretty good place to call paradise. If it wasn’t for the long flight to get over there, I think I’d probably go over there more often, but I’m going to have to say Maui.

2. Do you ever listen to jazz?
Jazz, not so much. Blues, yeah. I like to play guitar, and blues has a lot to do with the reason I play guitar. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and then the new era of music. Not so much jazz, but I’m a connoisseur of music, so I like all music, so I wouldn’t mind listening to it.

3. Do you like the Kentucky Derby?
Yeah, we do a little Kentucky Derby thing in the clubhouse. We like watching the horses run. It’s pretty crazy to see the training and everything the horses go through, too, so it’s an exciting event. Hopefully, down the road, I’ll actually have a chance to go to the Kentucky Derby and watch it in person.

4. What’s your favorite part about Boston?
Boston, it’s a fun place. A lot of history. I was sort of a history buff, I guess, in school, so I like to visit the places that the wars went on or the colonies and everything in the United States.

5. Why do you wear No. 11?
Actually, No. 11 was just the first number that I wore whenever I was a little kid. I was always really skinny, so the nickname that I had was “Sticks,” and that sort of stuck with me, so No. 11, whenever it was available, that’s the number that I chose.

6. Who eats the most on the team?
That’s a good question. I think everybody would probably say (David Ortiz), but I don’t think he eats more than — I don’t know. Joe Kelly eats a lot. Usually, it’s the skinnier people that eat the most because they can. All the guys that have to watch out for what they eat because they’ll gain weight doing it, they’re usually the guys that eat the smartest and healthiest. And then guys like me, we eat whatever we want because we’re tall and skinny, so it’s probably the thinner folks that you see.

7. What’s your favorite subject?
Actually, math. I was always really good with numbers. I don’t know why. I didn’t like reading or writing, so it went all into math, and then science has some numbers, too, so I was always good at math for some reason. Had a good memory with numbers, and to this day, I remember crazy stuff, credit cards, driver’s license. It’s just something that sticks with you, I think, but math is also my favorite subject.

8. Do your kids run the show at home?
Actually, now that I think about it, the kids do. I’ve got a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, so they’re bouncing off the walls for the most part of the day. Whenever they do get what they want, most of the time they’ll settle down a little bit, so that helps me get a little bit of peace and quiet at home, but they definitely run the show.

9. Do you believe in aliens?
I don’t know. If you sit back and think about it, Earth is pretty small, as far as the atmosphere goes and the galaxies. I actually have a feeling there might be something else out there. So, to be determined, I guess, until we find Bigfoot or anything else that goes with that.