What more could Holy Scripture say to clarify for both believers and the uninitiated that baseball is God’s sport? Just look how the Bible starts. Well, perhaps not exactly, but the onomatopoeia does make me wonder.
I realize that the idea of God having a favorite sport is rife with controversy. Still, there are some potential connections between faith, the Christian church and baseball.
Christianity holds true belief in one God, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The most rudimentary baseball fan knows that one frame of each inning is divided into three outs. Each at bat is further divided with three strikes. Three strikes and you’re out in baseball. Like the church’s mercy for anyone who repents, a count of two strikes still affords you the chance for redemption with a two-strike single. And a two-strike single can move the runners ahead or drive in a winning run.
Baseball, like Christianity, reminds of us of our legacy. Few people who were born as fans of, say, Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers will convert to being fans of the hapless Chicago Cubs. While some do find and become faithful followers of the Yankees or the Red Sox, most of us stick with the legacy that our family taught us as we grew up.
The first steps we take into our baseball fandom are not that different from those we take at church. Baseball also has sacraments. Attending a game is like baptism. Attending a Major League game is confirmation. Spring training is like unction for last season’s ills. Perhaps becoming a player is akin to ordination.
Conversion is difficult, too. It must have been hard for Brooklyn fans to finally relent and support the Dodgers after their move to the City of Angels, Los Angeles. We might even argue that as converts, it is easier to become Catholic from another Christian body than it would be to convert from being a fan of the Red Sox to a fan of the Yankees.
I also think there are some similarities between representing your team and representing your faith, which you may see on a team’s field or in the pews or out doing charitable works as ballplayer or a Christian.
At the plate you are an individual batter, but you may have to sacrifice to help your brother to the next base. And at the plate, like in the confessional, you may have to watch your own weaknesses come out, as you swing and miss on a hanging slider.
The church also teaches us about perfection and the embodiment of it in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, we still live in a broken, imperfect world. As wonderful as baseball is, no one would question that while it is the greatest game played, it is far from perfect.
Perhaps some of you remember June 2, 2010. That is a date that will live in infamy. At least in baseball infamy. It was that day that a missed call by umpire Jim Joyce ruined what would have been a perfect game by a Detroit Tigers pitcher, Armando Gallaraga. Joyce made a public confession and admitted his mistake. Gallaraga, who had been just one play away from perfection, spent most of the past few years playing in the minors and overseas.
While baseball is finally starting to embrace the idea of instant replay, it has always relied on the frailty of human judgment. In our journeys of faith, how often do we stray when given the opportunity to do so? It isn’t so much that sin calls out to us, as it is that we run toward it.
Baseball’s Opening Day is today, with the Cardinals taking on the Cubs. Today is also Easter. What a perfect moment for us to consider our lives. Like the start of a new season, Easter offers us the chance to renew ourselves spiritually.
Easter is a chance for last season’s sins to be forgiven. Our sacrifices during Lent are much like spiritual spring training, preparing us for our next step. For me, Easter is an opportunity, like baseball, to round the bases, so to speak, and find your way home. Baseball’s whole goal is to get from first to second to third and round that last base and find your way home. Isn’t it the same with Christianity? We are baptized, find our way to confirmation and other sacraments, hoping to bring our souls home.
Home is a simple enough concept in baseball — just an awkward pentagon shape where you score a run — but for Christians isn’t it similar? We must find our way to a holy home by participating in those sacraments that bring us home — closer to God and who we are.
