Today, February 11, 2013, pitchers and catchers report to SPRING TRAINING!. So, you see, Spring is just around the corner, in spite of the 12+ inches of snow we see out our windows. In Fact, for New England Baseball Fans who make up RED SOX NATION, Spring has already sprung on February 5th, TRUCK DAY, when the equipment truck left FENWAY “PAUK” and headed for Fort Myers, Florida. Baseball is my “first love,” then comes football, hockey, and basketball. Baseball is very special to me, because it reminds me of life and life reminds me of baseball. To take it one step further, baseball reminds me of both my own personal journey with God and the Christian Church as a whole. In all three I see God’s grace demonstrated, and for that I am eternally grateful! I invite you to enter Lyd’s Look on Life, through the eyes of a follower of Christ and baseball fan and discover how Baseball is Life is Baseball (This would make a cool T-shirt). Enter at your own risk. See how many of these characteristics of the Baseball World ring true in your own Christian experience or your own life in general. In order to understand how I see it, you need to read in between the lines.
Baseball, Life, and the Christian journey all have the same kind of conglomeration of similarities and differences that somehow work together in the grand scheme of things. In one way or another baseball and the Christian Church (two perfect institutions that are both God‘s ideas, in my humble opinion) remain alive and well, even though both are made up of imperfect human beings. One of my friends describes it well, “Life [including baseball and the Church] would be perfect, if it weren’t for the people.” Here goes:
“PLAY BALL!” AND POSTPONEMENTS
STRIKEOUTS AND HOMERUNS
BUNTS AND BOMBS
BLOOP HITS AND LONG BALLS
BLOW-OUTS AND NO-HITTERS
FASTBALLS, CURVEBALLS, KNUCKLBALLS, CHANGE-UPS, SPLITTERS AND SLIDERS
GROUNDOUTS AND SEEING-EYE SINGLES
WALKS AND RUNS
CATASTROPHIC ERRORS AND SPECTACULAR PLAYS
DOUBLEPLAYS AND DOUBLE-BAGGERS
STEROIDS, STEALS, AND SACRIFICES
SCANDALS, PLAYERS’ STRIKES, AND THE GAME THAT HEALS AND UNITES
(during WWII and after 9/11)
GAME-ENDING FLY BALLS AND WALK-OFF HOMERUNS
CURSES AND MIRACLES
SUPERSTITIONS, ROUTINES, REHAB, WARM-UPS AND PREPERATION
ABNER DOUBLEDAY AND THE MIGHTY CASEY AT THE BAT
MUDVILLE AND COOPERSTOWN
COOPERSTOWN, NY AND PITTSFIELD, MASS
S. WILLIAMSPORT, PA. AND LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES, FIELDS OF DREAMS
INFIELD DIRT AND BASEBALL DIAMONDS
BASE BAGS AND HOME PLATES
FOUL POLES AND FAIR BALLS
TOBACCO-SPIT-STAINED DUGOUTS AND PRESTINELY MANICURED OUTFIELDS
BASEBALL CATHEDRALS AND AMERICA’S MOST BELOVED BALLPARK
MOMUMENT PARK, GREEN MONSTAH AND IVY-COVERED WALLS
PINSTRIPES, RED SOCKS, AND PAJAMA UNIFORMS
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM, GOD BLESS AMERICA, TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME, SWEET CAROLINE, AND I LOVE THAT DIRTY WATER
KATE SMITH AND DROP KICK MURPHYS
BLEACHER BUMS AND LUXURY SUITE BUSINESSMEN
RALLY CAPS, RALLY MONKEYS, WAVING FLAGS, AND SILENT PRAYERS
HOME PLATE UMPIRES, EVIL EMPIRES AND RED SOX NATION (AND THE CUBS)
PERENNIAL FAVORITES AND LOVABLE LOSERS
FEARCE RIVALRIES AND CLOSE COMRADERIES
WORTHY ADVERSARIES AND A TIGHT BROTHERHOOD
BABE RUTH AND JOSH GIBSON
(Negro League Homerun King)
SATCHEL PAIGE, YOGI BERRA, CASEY STENGEL, BILL “SPACEMAN” LEE
(Baseball “Philosophers”)
TY COBB AND JACKIE ROBINSON
(Ty Cobb was a great player for the Detroit Tigers and a quick-tempered racist. Jackie Robinson was a great player for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and a temper-controlled champion for racial equality.)
BARRY BONDS AND HANK AARON
TOMMY JON SURGERY AND CY YOUNG AWARD
ROGER CLEMONS AND JON LESTER
(Clemons was a great veteran pitcher and accused steroid user. Lester is a very good young pitcher and cancer survivor. Clemons played for the RED SOX early in his career. Lester is now pitching for the SOX.)
MITCHELL REPORT AND HALL OF FAME BALLOTS
OFFICIAL BASEBALL MANUAL, “GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT” AND UNSPOKEN PLAYER RULES OF RETALIATION
PREMADONAS AND DIRT DOGS
(Players who love the lime light and demand special treatment and players who love to play the game and work hard at it)
DL AND MVP
(Disabled List and Most Valuable Player)
STARTERS, RELIEVERS, AND CLOSERS
LINE-UPS AND ROTATIONS
EVERYDAY PLAYERS, UTILITY MEN, AND BENCH WARMERS
COACHES, MANAGERS, TRAINERS, VETERANS AND ROOKIES
SENT DOWN TO THE MINORS AND CALLED UP TO THE BIGS
NEXT YEAR AND OCTOBER BASEBALL
SPRING TRAINING AND POST-SEASON PLAY
THE BIG INNING AND THE 7TH INNING STRETCH
HOT DOGS AND BEER, POPCORN, PEANUTS, AND CRACKERJACKS,
CHAMPAGNE SHOWERS AND CLUBHOUSE CELEBRATIONS
RAIN DELAYS AND RAIN-OUTS OR “I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW” AND “THE RED SOX ARE THE WORLD CHAMPIONS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! J ”
FAIR-WEATHER FANS AND DIE-HARD FANATICS
AGENTS, FREE AGENTS, PLAYERS COMING AND GOING, BROKEN HEARTS
THE BUSINESS OF BASEBALL AND THE GAME OF BASEBALL
These are some of the ways baseball mirrors life and life mirrors baseball, and especially the Christian life. The Christian life consists of many struggles and triumphs, sorrows and joys, failures and successes, frailties and moments of greatness, times of want and times of plenty, two steps back and three steps forward, succumbing to the old nature and living the new life in Christ. The Christian Church is made up of many different types of people who have not always represented Christ perfectly to the world. They belong to more denominations than there are baseball teams and are from different backgrounds including, dare I say it, more than one political party. However, just as the game of baseball, in its purest form, belonging to the family of God is the greatest life ever lived by imperfect human beings. Despite our many faults, God is God and Jesus is the Savior of the world made up of imperfect people who call themselves Christians. As the body of Christ, we are a conglomeration (“a mixed coherent mass“) chosen by God to be His messengers of joy, hope, and love. With this in mind, let’s dig deep in the batter’s box, make sure we follow through and hit that ball right on the sweet spot of the bat and way out of the “pauk.” The end result will be being called “safe at Home” and hearing the words we long to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
A passionate follower of Christ and “wicked big Sox fan,”
Lydia
P.S. Did you know that SPEED slows down the game of baseball. When a base runner known for his speed makes it to first base, the pitcher and catcher on the apposing team are preoccupied with keeping him from stealing second base. As a result, more pitches are thrown to first base than to the batter standing at home plate, resulting in a very long time at bat for that one batter. How many times do we slow down blessings and stifle our spiritual growth by trying to SPEEP UP things for God, instead of waiting for His perfect timing?J (I got this analogy by watching the MLB Network.) Did you also know, even though the game does have an end, baseball has no time clock. It is not ruled by the tyranny of time, but ends when one team is ahead and the last out is made, after nine innings or however many innings it takes. Looking at our own lives, we do not know when our time on earth will come to an end. Only God knows when that will be. Whenever it comes, it’s so good to know that we are on the winning team J
P.P.S. I wrote “BASEBALL IS LIFE IS BASEBALL” several years ago and a dear brother in the Lord and his wife had a T-shirt made for me with “BASEBALL IS LIFE IS BASEBALL” on the front and all the words above on the back. They also had a baseball cap made for me with “BASEBALL IS LIFE IS BASEBALL” on the front. Both T-shirt and cap have a baseball diamond in the background. That was such a wonderful surprise! Their kindness mad me cry. I may never write a book, BUT my words are on a T-shirt and baseball cap!
