It was the Tri-Fecta… One of the goals I have with my sons is that by the time they graduate from college, we will have been to a game in every major league baseball park in the United States.
My 25th High School reunion near Boston was a perfect excuse to have a road trip and hit two new parks along the way. So, with Wimberly at summer camp, Elizabeth, Christian, Hudson and I drove to Washington, stayed with good friends and together hit the Washington Nationals game in their brand new park. The very next night we hit Yankee Stadium (and the evil empire of the New York Yankees), and then into the sweet confines of Fenway Park and the Red Sox. During this great tri-fecta of a 3 day odyssey, all the right teams won and lost. The Nationals and Red Sox won and the Yankees lost! In any case, we now have visited 7 of the 30 ball parks in Major League Baseball.
But why baseball? What is so special about this summertime delight? Baseball is a perfect game for a priest to love….why? There is no clock! It’s one of the only major sports not governed by time, and for a priest, that’s magical. But one is also under the stars watching men use a simple baseball, bat and glove. The simplicity is beautiful.
This got me searching for other links between Christianity and Baseball. With gratitude to a still unknown preacher, I give you the following:
The Bible really is about baseball: “In the big inning…”
There might be a scriptural approach to the question of Jesus and baseball. You could thumb through scripture
and pull out references to Jesus doing things like:
- Spitting in the mud.
- Writing in the sand.
- Talking about our eternal home.
There might even be a denominational approach to the question:
- Calvinists believe the game is fixed.
- Lutherans believe they can’t win, but trust the Scorekeeper.
- Episcopalians pass the plate.
- Evangelicals make effective pitches.
- Amish walk a lot.
Or there might be an intellectual approach to the question by reading:
The Faith of 50 Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture by Christopher Hodge Evans
Rounding the Bases: Baseball And Religion in America by Joseph L. Price.
Men At Work by George Will
And God Said “Play Ball by Gary Graf
Well, if the church is the body of Christ, and the church excels in the game of life (that can sometimes be like baseball)… then it is the perfect game for Christians!