White Sox Attendance Now Lower Than Average Episcopal Church Service

A Little Humor-

Attendance records for the beginning of the Chicago White Sox’s season obtained Monday revealed that the majority of Sox games are now being attended by fewer people than even the average Sunday service at an Episcopal Church.

“Where Episcopalians usually are able to wrangle up a dozen people or so for morning worship, the White Sox are averaging about three people a game,” a journalist wrote at Bleacher Report. “The ball club would do well to study Episcopalian outreach methods and try to figure out what they can do better to maybe get 10 or 15 people to come watch them play at Guaranteed Rate Field.”

“Maybe throw a hot dish social or two to garner up some interest,” he concluded.

It's here -

http://babylonbee.com/news/white-sox-attendance-now-lower-than-average-episcopal-church-service/

Possible Canonization of Major League Ball Player Gains Traction

From Catholic Marketing-

A baseball player may be on the way to becoming a saint. The idea may sound like it is out of left field, but the pitch thrown to Pope Francis by filmmaker Richard Rossi turned out to be an unlikely strike. What about the requirement for a miracle to greenlight the canonization of baseball icon Roberto Clemente beyond beatification? It was met today, according to Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press. He is now declared officially “blessed.”

Olympian Jamie Nieto was paralyzed from the neck down in a backflip accident three years after Rossi’s controversial film “Baseball’s Last Hero” was released. Nieto starred in the lead role of Roberto Clemente. His stellar acting in portraying Clemente’s Christlike decision to give his life to save others caught the pontiff’s attention, inspiring the Clemente canonization campaign. Saturday in El Cajon, CA, Nieto walked 130 steps at his own wedding to fellow Olympian Shevon Stoddart.

More here-

http://www.catholicmarketing.com/2017/08/03/possible-canonization-major-league-ball-player-gains-traction/

Second Coming Of Christ Scheduled For Game 7 Of Cubs-Indians World Series

This Just In-

HEAVEN—In a stunning leak Monday, sources in heaven claimed to have “reliable information” that the triumphant return of Jesus Christ will occur one week from Wednesday, during a deciding Game 7 of the World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs.

Claiming that it’s “definitely happening,” sources added that the Second Coming will take place during the final inning, as one of the teams comes agonizingly close to winning the World Series.

More here-

http://babylonbee.com/news/second-coming-christ-scheduled-game-7-cubs-indians-world-series/

In Good Faith: Spring Fling

From Oregon-

It started with a throwaway Facebook post. A lament that, given what I do for a living, I would never get to go to spring training. I mean, the season of Lent, the busiest time of year for parish clergy, just happens to coincide with Major League Baseball’s own season of preparation. Christians may be preparing for Easter but ballplayers are preparing for Opening Day, so there are a few parallels. If you’re desperate enough.

Getting to see my beloved hometown Baltimore Orioles play in spring training has crept up my bucket list over the years. Okay, I don’t actually keep a bucket list, but if I did it would be near the top. Connecting with my inner child, combined with some warm sun after surviving another New England winter — what could be better? Alas. Maybe when I retire.

(snip)

And so, in-between innings, we talked about life and death, faith and family. Time stood still as the three of us laughed and cheered and talked about the things that really matter in life — the relationships that define us and shape our identity — and the sense of peace in the face of death that, even as it comes from a life well-lived, defies all understanding.

More here-

http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20160322/NEWS/160329901

Priest: The Real Miracle Would Be A Cubs Win

From The Daily Beast-

Being a Christian and a Cubs fan have lots in common—starting with faith against all odds.

The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.

That is a bit of proverbial wisdom that I have often shared with others on my faith journey that led to being ordained as an Episcopal priest this past January. I share it because it rings true to my experience, not merely as a Christian, but as a Cubs fan.

There has been no greater certainty in American sports over the last century than that the Cubs will lose. Seasons change. The players change. Management changes. And still the Cubs lose.

More here-

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/17/priest-the-real-miracle-would-be-a-cubs-win.html

Saint Roberto?

From Pittsburgh-

Richard Rossi thinks a case can be made on behalf of the Pirates’ late right fielder, Roberto Clemente.

Mr. Rossi, who directed and played a scout in the recent movie “Baseball’s Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories,” is seeking to document miracles in his pitch to have Mr. Clemente canonized as a saint.

On Friday, Mr. Rossi received a letter from the Vatican through the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., that informs him the authority to begin the process rests with the archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Mr. Clemente, who played 18 seasons with the Pirates and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973, died on New Year’s Eve, 1972, when the plane in which he was carrying earthquake relief supplies to Nicaragua crashed off the coast of San Juan.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/pittsburgh-history/2015/01/11/Saint-Roberto-Clemente-Richard-Rossi-Pirates/stories/201501110144

Detroit Tigers get church's blessing on eve of Opening Day

From Detroit-

The faithful showed up Sunday morning at St. John’s Episcopal Church to pray for the Detroit Tigers on the eve of Opening Day.

The flock of fans included Shirl Howell, 64, of Hazel Park, who sat in a front pew of the 156-year-old church wearing an orange-and-black “Tiger” striped hairband featuring two pointy striped ears.

“I’ve been doing this for several years — it’s become a tradition,” said a smiling Howell, sporting a T-shirt that read, “God First, Family and then the Tigers.”

Howell was among more than 70 parishioners seeking some extra help for their favorite baseball team.

Some were familiar faces to the Rev. Steven J. Kelly, who gave the blessing after a 20-minute program that included prayers, Scripture, hymns and, at times, a majestic organ accompaniment. The church, at Woodward and the Fisher Freeway, is within a block of Comerica Park.

More here-

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140330/METRO01/303300032/Detroit-Tigers-get-church-s-blessing-eve-Opening-Day

The spirituality of the 2013 Red Sox

From Boston-

“As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” — Mark 1:16-18

Back in 2004, I was still in seminary studying to become an Episcopal priest. Even though I’m from Massachusetts originally, I decided to try something new and so went to the Episcopal seminary in New York City.

And so, I was living in Manhattan when the 2004 Red Sox did their thing. The bloody sock. Dave Roberts’ steal. Manny. Papi. Pedro. Curt. The rest of The Idiots. The incomprehensible comeback over the Yankees. The four-game sweep of the Cardinals. The first Red Sox World Series championship in years and years, and the end of the Curse. Writing it all down still gives me chills. It was unreal. The morning after the Red Sox won that last game in St. Louis, when my seminary classmates went down to chapel for worship in the heart of Yankees territory, the 15-foot statue of Jesus has a Red Sox cap on. To this day, no one has admitted to being the perpetrator of that act of nonviolent resistance...

More here-

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x2132761285/STEWART-The-spirituality-of-the-2013-Red-Sox

A World Away, the Seventh Game; Close at Hand, Condemned Nazis

From The New York Times-

The Protestant minister and the Roman Catholic priest had a $10 bet riding on the 1946 World Series. The minister, a Lutheran from Missouri, went with the St. Louis Cardinals, naturally. The priest, a Franciscan from upstate New York, was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, but he went with the Boston Red Sox to make things interesting.

These men of the cloth had earned this minor vice.

For the last 11 months, they had served as the chaplains at Nuremberg prison in Germany, offering spiritual counsel to the first Nazis to be tried for war crimes in the rubbed-raw wake of World War II. Among their flock were architects of genocide, responsible for the murder of many millions, most of them Jews.

Now it was mid-October, and this initial phase of postwar judgment was nearing its climactic end in a courts-and-prison complex called the Palace of Justice. The pastoral work of the Lutheran, the Rev. Henry Gerecke, and the Franciscan, the Rev. Sixtus O’Connor, was almost done.
More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/sports/baseball/a-world-away-the-seventh-game-close-at-hand-condemned-nazis.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Pirates clinch first playoff spot since 1992

The big news from Pittsburgh-

For the first time since 1992, the Pirates are going to the postseason. Their 2-1 win over the Cubs combined with the Nationals 4-3 loss to the Cardinals clinched a playoff spot for Pittsburgh. The Cardinals, Braves, Reds and Dodgers have all punched their postseason ticket as well, so the five-team NL field is set.

The Pirates snapped their 20-year streak of losing seasons earlier this month, so these last few weeks have been pretty special for the Pittsburgh nine. The last time the Pirates went to the playoffs, their best hitter was Barry Bonds and their best pitcher was Doug Drabek. Yeah, the times have changed.

Like that 1992 squad, the 2013 Pirates also have one of the very best players in the world in Andrew McCutchen. The center fielder is both a legitimate NL MVP candidate and the franchise's best all-around player since Bonds. Slugger Pedro Alvarez backs up McCutchen with serious power from the left side. Coming into Monday, the team averaged just 3.88 runs scored per game, which is more or less league average.

More here-

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/23809702/pirates-clinch-first-playoff-spot-since-1992

Pirates sweep Cardinals in doubleheader, lead NL Central

In a slight change of pace I have to brag on the Bucs- (best team in Baseball)

Andrew McCutchen clubbed his 15th homer of the season and the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with 6-0 victory on Tuesday night.

Brandon Cumpton (1-1) allowed three hits over seven innings to pick up his first major league win. The sweep propelled the Pirates into first place in the NL Central. Pittsburgh is a season-high 22 games over .500 (64-42).

Tyler Lyons (2-4) gave up four runs, three earned, in six innings. The rookie struck out five and walked one but received no help from a reeling offense. The Cardinals have dropped six straight and have scored five runs in their last 56 innings.

GAME 1 BOX SCORE: Pirates 2, Cardinals 1 (11)

GAME 2: Pirates 6, Cardinals 0

More here

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/07/30/pirates-outlast-cardinals-2-1-in-11-innings/2601549/

60-year-old rookie pursues pro-baseball dream

Its been a while since we've done any baseball (worth the 3 1/2 minutes)-

When pitcher Paul Risso suffered a career-ending shoulder injury in 1973 — just after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates — he figured he had thrown his last major-league ball.

Forty years later, he’s trying to write a different ending to his story. At 60 years old, Risso tried out in May for the St. Paul Saints, a professional independent league team in Minnesota.

“I’ve never been a person that’s going to look back and say, ‘I shoulda done this, shoulda done that,’’’ Risso told TODAY.

When Risso turned 50, the pain in his right shoulder from the injury he suffered while pitching for San Mateo (Calif.) College as a 20-year-old began to subside. He picked up a ball again and discovered he could still throw a fastball in the low 80s.

More here-

http://www.today.com/news/60-year-old-rookie-pursues-pro-baseball-dream-6C10570530

Baseball and Religion

From PBS-

BOB FAW, correspondent: New York University president John Sexton oversees more than 40 thousand students and a $2.5 billion budget. He’s expanding the university at home and abroad while contending with some faculty members who oppose his high-powered management style.

JOHN SEXTON (President, NYU): (speaking to students) We’re going to do just a little bit of a wrap up.

FAW: And yet, like few university presidents, Sexton also finds time to teach four classes. He is famous for greeting his students and anyone else, for that matter, with a hearty hug, and demanding nothing less than their absolute best.
SEXTON: (speaking to students) Eugene O’Neill famously said he who stops at mere success and does not press on to glorious failure is a spiritual middle-classer. I don’t want you stopping at the easy. None of you. 

FAW: Now the former law school dean and distinguished legal scholar has written a most unusual book: “Baseball as a Road to God.” That’s right, baseball.

SEXTON: The similarities between baseball and religion abound. The ballpark as cathedral; saints and sinners; the curses and blessings. But then what I’m arguing is beyond that surface level, there’s a fundamental similarity between baseball and religion which goes to the capacity of baseball to cause human beings, in a context they don’t think of as religious, to break the plane of ordinary existence into the plane of extraordinary existence. 


 More here-

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/april-26-2013/baseball-and-religion/16067/

Also at Slate

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/books/2013/04/john_sexton_s_baseball_as_a_road_to_god_reviewed.html

Jackie Robinson: How God used two faith-filled believers to desegregate baseball

A "lift" from "T19"-

The biographical film “42” depicts Jackie Robinson’s courageous battle to break the color barrier in major league baseball. At the same time, the film provides a glimpse of his religious faith, which afforded the strength he needed to overcome fierce opposition.
“It took two Christians to pull this off,” says Chris Lamb, the author of “Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Spring Training” (University of Nebraska, 2004). “Robinson was a Christian and Branch Rickey was a Christian,” he notes. “Sometimes we miss this.”

Lamb was blind to it himself until he researched Robinson’s life for his book. “I kept wondering all these years what kept Robinson together,” he says. “Finally I realized what I missed before – the core came from above.”

The film accurately depicts the role of Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey in advancing desegregation in baseball. Rickey, a devout Methodist, was sometimes known as “the deacon” due to his forthright convictions.

More here-

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2013/s13040084.htm

Jackie Robinson’s faith missing from ’42′ movie

From RNS-

A new film about Jackie Robinson, titled “42″ — the number he wore during his historic career — tells the triumphant story of how the Civil Rights icon integrated professional baseball by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But there’s a mysterious hole at the center of this otherwise worthy film.

The man who chose Robinson for his role, and masterminded the whole affair, was Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey, played by Harrison Ford. In their initial meeting, the cigar-chomping Rickey makes it clear that whoever will be the first African American in major league baseball will be viciously attacked, verbally and physically. So Rickey famously says he’s looking for a man “with guts enough not to fight back.” He needs someone who will resist the temptation to retaliate. Robinson agrees to go along with it.

But where did Rickey get that crazy idea and why did Robinson agree? The film doesn’t tell us, but the answers to these questions lie in the devout Christian faith of both men.

Why Robinson was chosen

For starters, Rickey himself was a “Bible-thumping Methodist” who refused to attend games on Sunday. He sincerely believed it was God’s will that he integrate baseball and saw it as an opportunity to intervene in the moral history of the nation, as Lincoln had done.

And Rickey chose Robinson because of the young man’s faith and moral character. There were numerous other Negro Leagues players to consider, but Rickey knew integrating the racist world of professional sports would take more than athletic ability. The attacks would be ugly, and the press would fuel the fire. If the player chosen were goaded into retaliating, the grand experiment would be set back a decade or more.
More here-

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/04/12/jackie-robinsons-faith-missing-from-42-movie/

Pray for Detroit Tigers at St. John's Episcopal Church, next to Comerica Park, on eve of Opening Day

From Detroit-

Want to send some faith the Detroit Tigers' way before Friday's Opening Day matchup against the New York Yankees?

You're in luck. Detroit's St. John's Episcopal Church, at 2326 Woodward Ave., will host a "Pray Here for the Tigers" service 6 p.m. Thursday. All are welcome.

For more information, visit the church's website.

Prayers for the Tigers' bullpen might be in order, too.

The team (1-1) lost 3-2 Wednesday night to the Twins in Minnesota after Phil Coke blew a ninth-inning lead.

More here-

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2013/04/pray_for_detroit_tigers_at_st.html

Stan Musial / Donora, Pa., native won 7 batting titles

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

On this day, when baseball's perfect knight has fallen, it won't do to simply call him great.
Great is an adjective just so perfectly inadequate, because the subject was instead, by crucial distinction, firmly among the greatest, and the very greatest at that.

Stan "The Man" Musial, the Donora, Pa., native whose thumping baseball elegance and unfailing humanist poise adorned most of an American century, died Saturday in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue. He was 92.

The Hall of Famer won seven National League batting titles, was a three-time most valuable player and helped the Cardinals capture three World Series championships in the 1940s.

If, as has been attributed to baseball's cultural geography, Willie Mays' glove is the place where triples went to die, then Mr. Musial's bat is the long-shuttered factory that for decades pounded out doubles off the wall, and those were just a portion of the monstrous industrial production that carved the image of Stanley Frank Musial into the game's eternal pantheon.


Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/obituaries/obituary-stan-musial-donora-pa-native-won-7-batting-titles-671247/#ixzz2IW2agLtp

McCutchen powers Bucs to sweep, first-place tie

Further signs of the impending apocalypse - The Pirates are in first place (well tied for first anyway)

A.J. Burnett continued his remarkable pitching renaissance. The lineup at his back continued its abuse of visiting left-handers. As the sum of those parts, the Pirates continued on a roll, steadily gaining both momentum and confidence.

In the latest dose, Pittsburgh completed a sweep of Kansas City with a 3-2 win on Sunday in front of 25,752 in PNC Park. Pending the outcome of Cincinnati's Sunday night game against Detroit, the Pirates will hit the road to Baltimore either tied for the NL Central lead or still one game behind the Reds.

Andrew McCutchen drove in all three runs against Royals lefty Bruce Chen as the Bucs improved to 8-1 against southpaws at home. Overall, the win was the Pirates' fourth straight. It is their second four-game winning streak within a 12-3 run since May 25, the club's best 15-game stretch in nearly a decade.

More here-

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_06_10_kcamlb_pitmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=pit

The Slide: The moment that begat a legacy of losing for the Pirates

Thank you for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it why don't you give me a paper cut and put lemon juice in it?

The Pirates of 1992 are not the type to believe in the supernatural. They are tried and true baseball men, believing only that, when round ball hits round bat, anything can happen.

Still, they look for answers - ways to explain the events of an Autumn night in Atlanta that now feels predestined.

"All the stars lined up against us," said Andy Van Slyke, then the Pirates center fielder.

To wonder if the cosmos were working extra hard on Oct. 14, 1992, is understandable. Thursday's opening day at PNC Park will begin the 20th season since the Pirates lost to the Braves 3-2 in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, and Pittsburgh is still waiting for a winning baseball team to return. Nineteen straight years of losing is inexplicable, but to say it's a curse? No, the Pirates of 1992 won't go down that road.

But they'll live each day with the pain, a loyal companion all these years. Numerous times, Van Slyke, who collapsed in center field of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium when the game ended, has replayed the bottom of the ninth and argued strikes that were called balls. Mike LaValliere, then the Pirates catcher who had the best view of those disputed pitches, has never watched again. Can't. Won't.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/pirates/the-slide-the-moment-that-begat-a-legacy-of-losing-for-the-pirates-629357/

Dave Dravecky on Bonds issue: A conflagration to be rekindled

From California-

At Grace Episcopal Church on Sunday, former San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky talked about grace. His speaking appearance, sponsored by Marston Family Vineyard, packed the sanctuary at the St. Helena church.

It was a “message pitch” for the lefthander, who, in fact, doesn’t have a left hand anymore — or, for that matter, the left arm with which he won 64 major-league games. It was amputated in June 1991 because of a cancerous desmoid tumor. Dravecky has moved on admirably well. For the past few years he has been Dave Dravecky, cancer survivor, author, inspirational speaker and man of baseball.

After addressing the multitude in the church, during an interview outside on the church patio, Dravecky, the baseball man, also talked about grace. Specifically, his hope that people will have enough of it to set aside the steroid issue of the last decade when it comes to voting Giants slugger Barry Bonds into the Baseball Hall of Fame and reacting to his induction if he makes it.

The issue ignited in 2003, when Bonds first became involved in steroids, and set ablaze during the decade when Barry was brought up on perjury charges. It took something momentous — the Giants’ 2010 pennant campaign and victory in the World Series — to turn the burner down.

Read more:

http://napavalleyregister.com/calistogan/news/local/dave-dravecky-on-bonds-issue-a-conflagration-to-be-rekindled/article_8a398424-632f-11e1-9a14-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1nxgJdvfq