'Tis the Season - Part 2

Pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks. For those who don't know what this means, pitchers and catchers show up to spring training a week or two before position players arrive so they can start throwing to catchers, doing PFPs (pitcher's fielding practice), etc. It's terribly monotonous and not too much fun...but then you remember you're being played to play baseball, and that makes it all better.

A few storylines I'll be following this season include:

(1) Will Bengie Molina ever score from third base on a double?

(2) Can Prince Fielder save himself from himself?

(3) Will the Yankees lobby MLB to monetize the value of a World Series championship so they can just forgo the season and pay the agreed upon amount to be the 2010 World Series champions?

(4) Will the Nationals be shut down and forced to forfeit all remaining games in an attempt to save money and protect opposing players from getting injured in a meaningless game where the outcome is already known?

There are many other storylines I'll be watching (will Barry Bonds' old batting helmet continue to be used as the exclusive, and always sold out, "Bowl Seating Section" at AT&T Park - seats 25 adults -, can Mark McGwire keep from turning green and exploding out of his uniform when reporters and fans ask him about his past), it's going to be an exciting 2010!

'Tis the Season

Christmas is not just about family gatherings, gifts, and Red Rider BB guns nearly shooting out eyes, although I like all that stuff. The second chapter in the book of Luke recounts the birth of Jesus.

¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

As an aside, the distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem (where Joseph and his family had to return by order of Caesar, as it was the birthplace of Joseph) is approximately 80 miles; this was no easy journey for a family on the brink of having a child. After the birth of Jesus, men conspired to end the life of Jesus for a multitude of perceived transgressions. Ultimately, they were successful. We have holidays to remember that time, now is the time to celebrate the birth of our savior and reflect on the truly amazing gift we were given when God became flesh and entered our world as a baby boy who would eventually drink the sin of all humanity and show us how to have true life.

Worst Christmas Song Ever

Sorry for the hiatus, I've been a bit busy of late. It's Christmas time. Christmas season is an amazing time of year - people are more cheerful, cities and houses are festively decorated, and it's the time of year we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The day after Thanksgiving, people recover from their food comas, trample others to try to save a few bucks, and Christmas music starts playing on the radio.

This brings me to the point of my message. Today I was driving home and heard the worst Christmas song ever. It's called The Christmas Shoes and it's by the band NewSong. As I was driving home, the song came on. I thought "I like Christmas music, let's give it a listen." After the first verse, I thought "man, this guy sounds like the guy from Alabama...and this song is worse than any Darrell Hammond impersonation, which is really saying something." Anywho, as the second verse started, I felt something wet on both sides of my face. I thought this was strange so I reached up to my face to see what had happened. Then I realized what just occurred: MY EARS HAD VOMITED ON MY FACE! The song actually caused a violent reaction within my ear canals that resulted in my ears barfing. I was shocked and disgusted...not because my ears hurled on my face, but that a song this bad could actually happen.

Maybe I just don't get it. If you check out NewSong's Wikipedia page, you'll see the song inspired a NY Times Best Seller and was also made into the second most watched made-for-TV movie for 2002-2003. NewSong has made more money off this song than any song I've ever written, but I sleep well at night knowing I don't have vomiting ears on my conscience.

Are We Supposed to Love Everyone?

Just to be clear, the above picture is not a symbol of love. Are we supposed to love everyone? Yep. "But what about homosexuals?" Of course. "What about terrorists?" Yes, sir. "What if they're all rolled into one?" Yes, even then.

Love doesn't always mean condoning or approving, it means to love. Sometimes love takes many different forms. Love can be tender and supportive or love can be stern and confrontational. My heart hurts (and it hurts the perception of Christianity/Jesus/God) when I see people showing hatred towards someone for their sinful nature. No person is sinless in the eyes of God and we all fall short of Jesus' standard of perfection. It is completely possible to dissaprove of a behavior out of love for the person without sugar-coating the truth -- we shouldn't dissaprove of the person but we should dissaprove of their wilful acts of sin (but there are limits to the point we should continue to associate with someone who persistently pursues a destructive path, but that doesn't mean we stop loving them).

Just because we love someone doesn't mean we should let sinful acts go unnoticed or unpunished, in fact it's quite the opposite. Sin should be addressed in a straight-forward manner with love. If you confront someone about their sinful lifestyle out of anger or condescension, it probably won't go over to well (see protesters at top of page). One of the ultimate purposes of our lives is to tell people about Christ and the redemptive grace he offers. It's hard to model redemption and forgiveness while bashing/yelling/denigrating.

Let Jesus be your example (Luke 15:1, NIV) --

¹Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. ²But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Upon hearing the grumblings of the Pharisees, Jesus began to deliver parables (little stories). The parables outline grarce, redemption and rejoicing. The Pharisees felt above the tax collectors and sinners and couldn't imagine why someone of Jesus' supposed stature would visit with the commoners, Jesus just felt love.

Say What?

In the baseball world, the vernacular can be pretty strange. If you haven't been around the game, you may not know what certain phrases mean. I want to explore some of the phrases and their origins.

Some phrases are just fun to say, like 'bloop and a blast' or 'ducksnort'. How about when you hear an easy fly ball called a 'can of corn'? I always assumed the phrase originated from the fact that corn is the laziest of all the vegetables. Think about it: corn is slow growing, won't even expend the energy to get out of its own husk, and is yellow, which says "look at me, I'm busy", when in reality it's just sitting there doing nothing (the mark of true laziness). Apparently, the phrase actually comes from the ol' days when grocers would use a stick to tip canned vegetables off a tall shelf and catch them in their apron. Pretty easy catch, hence 'easy as a can of corn'.

'Texas Leaguer' is a term used for a weakly hit bloop single. Although not as fun as 'bloop and a blast', it'll do. The origin is debated but one theory stems from three players from the Texas League who got called up to the bigs and the team won with a lot of bloop singles. The synopsis of the game stated the team won on 'all those Texas Leaguer hits'. I always assumed the name came from the Texas League's origins. When the league was founded in 1902, it only allowed for midget players (under 4'6"). The little people didn't have very much power and the majority of their hits came in the form of infield hits and bloop singles. I know it sounds odd, but you can check my source.

'Sabermetrics' is a fairly new term. The term sabermetrics was coined by Bill James (actually it's SABR - Society for American Baseball Research) and implies a statistical view of baseball. Newer tools used to evaluate players include OPS (on-base + slugging), WHIP (walk + hits + innings pitched) and various defensive metrics. The use of sabermetrics is debated in baseball circles by the old- school scouts, who claim stats can't accurately evaluate a player...I understand the old-school perspective, but I think sabermetrics have serious merit.

'Five tool player' is a term that's been around since players were scouted. This term was often attributed to me. Baseball players are scouted using five tools on a 20-80 scale, with 50 being MLB average and 80 being somewhat mythical. The five tools are hitting for power, hitting for average, arm strength, speed, and defensive ability. Examples include Griffey or Bonds in their prime, or Hanley Ramirez and possibly Adam Jones are modern examples. I was off the charts concerning the tools evaluated by bad scouts (slowness, girth, smelliness, ability to get injured, and willingness to fight coaches). I was actually graded out as the ever-elusive '80' for both 'slowness' and 'willingness to fight coaches'.

There are lot more phrases out there, but this should get you started.

Is Worrying Wrong?

I'd have to say yes, worrying is wrong. Do I worry, yes. But I try not to worry. The problem with worrying is that it takes the emphasis off of God and puts it on you. This does not mean you can't plan ahead or think through a decision, but worrying is a slippery slope because it makes it difficult to determine where your faith begins and your faith ends - I will trust God with my salvation and my family's safety, but not my finances, my illness, etc.

I often hear people say that God won't give you anything you can't handle. That's not entirely true. People crumble all the time under the weight of their issues. God won't give you anything you can't handle as long you seek His guidance and embrace His grace and sovereignty. I have a friend who lays awake at night thinking about the problems of the economy and the doomed structure of our current credit system. I'm not saying be fatalistic, but worrying about issues you can't control doesn't stop the future from happening, it just gives you a pink mustache.

If find yourself worrying, try praying and giving your problems or concerns to God, He can handle it much better than you or I. Will God fix every problem, make sure your bills get paid on time, or heal your sickness? Maybe, maybe not. Ultimately, God is working for His glory, not our comfort (we'll discuss in future posts). Believe me when I say I know that relying on God is easier said than done, I fall short of perfection just like you. But if you don't listen to me (which I completely understand), please listen to the guy who delivered these words from the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:25-34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Worst Baseball Players Ever

Wow, where to begin. I suppose we should limit this list to MLB players. And we shouldn't forget that you have to be pretty good to make it to the bigs. But there have been some pretty bad numbers put up by players who had fairly lengthy careers. I came up with a few names but there are many, many others.

I grew up watching the Rangers, so I cannot forget about players like (current USC coach) Chad Kreuter, Jeff Kunkel, and Jeff Huson. But these guys look like all-stars when compared to the cream-of-the-crap.

Let's take a look at the career of Bill Bergen. I know he played a long time ago...but man he was bad. The guy hit an astonishing .168 from 1903-1911. That's lower than my average of coolness (believed to be roughly .175, where as Brad Pitt would be somewhere around .900-.910, if you believe the sabermetrics). Bergen also managed to only hit one homerun. That happens to be the same career total as Randy Johnson, who looks like a disheveled Big Bird swinging a broom stick, so I can only imagine what Bergen looked like.

How about Todd Van Poppel? Are there pitchers with worse ERAs? Sure. But they probably weren't touted as the next Nolan Ryan. Van Poppel came out of Arlington, TX's Martin High School as a first round phenom. He ended up having a pretty long career and had a few years of success out the bullpen, then he reverted back to his earlier form . I've seen better WHIPs in an 80s music video.

I love the guy, but Bob Uecker had a pretty rough career. He had a .200 career average and topped out 30 RBI for his season high. Fortunately, he's hilarious and great broadcaster. He's now in the Hall of Fame as a broadcaster and people still talk about his hilarious induction speech.

And we cannot forget about Henry Rowengartner.

I think everyone knows this cautionary tale. The happy-go-luck kid slipped on a ball and broke his arm. His ligaments healed very tightly and he became an instant phenom with a +100 mph fastball. The Cubs scooped him up and rushed him to The Show. He did pretty well for a while, but unfortunately he slipped on a ball again and his arm went back to its normal 8 year old girl status. Of course he was in the middle of a crucial game and facing the league's most feared hitter, Butch Heddo, when his arm reverted. He improvised and tossed an amazing underhand Eephus pitch, struck out Heddo, and locked up the series for the Cubs. Unfortunately, he never did regain his arm strength. Over the next few years, he bounced around to a few teams and later tested positive for multiple controlled substances. In 2003, he had his right arm purposely broken again in an attempt to make a comeback...but it wasn't meant to be. His right arm is now like a liberal arts degree, essentially useless. I heard he's been married three times and is selling cars in the Springfield area, he's still only 28 years old. The lesson is don't slip on a baseball for a second time.