My dad was a huge baseball fan. He was a huge sports fan, but baseball I think was his favourite. He desperately hoped for a son. After my sister was born 5 years after me, I suspect my mom said “no more” and my dad gave up on the dream. Somewhere there is a picture of her dressed up in baseball attire at a very early age.
In 1979, he was over the moon when his first grandchild was a boy. I think the Blue Jays hat came with his birth. In Christopher’s first official portrait when he was a few months old, he has a Blue Jays hat on. And of course, there was always baseball on the beach. That’s Chris above, with a baseball bat (or a close facsimile) in his hand from an early age. But it wasn’t one of the sports he ended up playing. He played hockey and soccer.
There is a well known family story that when Chris was finally old enough to be taken to a Blue Jays game (I think he was about 3 or 4 …), which were still being played at Exhibition Stadium, he said after the third inning “Can we go home now gramps?” Dad brought him home. Here’s dad, Chris and Punkin, minus the Jays’ gear.
I have occasionally pondered the symbolism and theology of baseball. A quick google search will suggest that I am not alone.
Sometimes, the subject has found its way into my sermons, especially when they are winning. I will admit to being a bit of a “fair weather fan” … ie when they are winning, which hasn’t been for a long time … although the pictures below will show you that over the last forty some odd years we always made a trip to the Sky Dome/Rogers Centre to see a game whenever we had a family trip to Toronto, which was often.
Sometimes, I have been able to combine United Church and baseball. I was in Toronto when the Jays won the World Series in 1993, their second in a row. The winning game was actually in Toronto. I was attending a UCC meeting of the executive of the Division of Mission in Canada. We were all crowded in a tiny hotel room downtown, watching, and when they won you could literally feel the city erupt. We didn’t get much sleep that night as the city partied.
In 2000, the General Council was held at York University in Toronto, and I was a Steward at the Council. At that time there was usually an afternoon mid-Council where work stopped and there were arranged outings around the city. One was to a Jays game … and then Moderator Bill Phipps threw the opening pitch. That was fun to see!
I loved the 1988 baseball movie Bull Durham. It is the story of three main characters in the world of a minor league baseball team. Aging pitcher Crash Davis, played by Kevin Costner, Nuke LaLoosh, a hot shot up and coming pitcher, played by Tim Robbins, and Annie Savoy, played by Susan Sarandon. Annie is the woman who comes between them, and who lives her life, in many ways, for baseball. The movie opens with Annie’s monologue, which I have had to heavily edit. She says:
“I believe in the church of baseball. I’ve tried all the major religions and most of the minor ones. I’ve worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there’s one hundred and eight beads in a Catholic rosary and there’s one hundred and eight stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn’t work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there’s no guilt in baseball, and it’s never boring, … and this is where I have to leave out a lot of the monologue but you can find it on youtube; the monologue ends with … I’ve tried them all, I really have. And the only church that feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball.”[1]
In a 2007 article in Faith and Theology, Kim Fabricus lists 10 reasons why baseball is God’s game. I’ll just give you a couple …
- “The game of ball is glorious” – Walt Whitman.
- Baseball is about coming home. The whole point of the game is to finish where you begin – home plate – and once you are home you are finally safe.
“In my beginning is my end…
Home is where one starts from…
In my end is my beginning.”
(T. S. Eliot, “East Coker”)
- It has its saints – e.g. Lou Gehrig (the Iron Horse) and Jackie Robinson (the first African-American player of the modern era) – and sinners – e.g. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (who took a bribe) and Barry Bonds (who is alleged to have taken steroids).
- Finally, baseball abounds in hope (cf. Romans 15:13): “Next year!” – and, indeed, past-redeeming eschatological promise: “If you build it, he will come” (Field of Dreams).[2]
Pictures below will prove that I have been a Jays fan (even if it is on and off) for many years. And it’s getting pretty exciting now that they are currently in top spot in the American League. The stadium is full again. I’ll be watching this weekend … when I’m not writing my sermon.
In the meantime, I am working my way through the Canada Reads 2025 books. I finished Dandelion this week and loved it. It’s a great story about identity, culture, family, immigration, and home. Next will be Jennie’s Boy by Wayne Johnston, or A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacoby and Mary Louisa Plummer, which I have in audio form from the library.
Anyone want to join me in August for a Canada Reads conversation? You can also find all the episodes of this year’s contest on youtube or the CBC’s website. Links are included in last week’s blog. Have a great weekend!
Let’s go Blue Jays!
below are some pictures of family outings through the years … note: in the first picture, for a number of years, after we left Toronto after 2 years in 1988, we continued to see Duncan’s plastic surgeon in Toronto for the further surgeries he needed. Hence the medical tape on his upper lip. The Jays game was something to look forward to after his surgery … plus of course a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame or Gretsky’s restaurant.