When a baseball player brings Jesus into his life, can it improve his performance?
To answer, one could compare batting averages and ERAs before and after a player became a Christian. But too many other factors can affect those statistics. Increased experience in the big leagues can lead to improvement. Conversely, age can lead to decline. Even something as simple as a change in one’s slot in the batting order can affect a player’s season statistics.
So the only way to test the theory is to ask the player himself. Let’s hear what they had to say.[
Mike Matheny as MLB manager (photo courtesy of CBS Sports)
Catcher Mike Matheny, who later managed the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, told this author that he had such a dreadful spring training before his first season with the Cardinals in 2000 that he worried he wouldn’t make the cut. “My walk with God was as strong as it had ever been,” he said, “but my baseball was terrible.” He spent a lot of time in prayer, talked with his wife, Kristen, and realized the problem.
“I had been playing not to fail,” he explained, noting that he was too concerned about making his new team. He dove back into baseball with new boldness. He not only made the team but also started on opening day and went on to win his first Gold Glove.
Gary Carter (photo courtesy of San Francisco Giants)
Another catcher, Hall of Famer Gary Carter, shared his thoughts with this author about the relationship between faith and performance.
In Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Carter’s Mets were one out away from losing the series, four games to two, to the Boston Red Sox. Boston led 5–3 as New York batted in the bottom of the tenth. With two outs and nobody on, Carter came to the plate. “I felt that God was going to bat with me,” he said. “I felt so confident.”
He lined a base hit into left field. The next two Mets also got hits. Then, after a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score, Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball that went through the legs of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, giving the Mets a 6–5 victory. New York went on to win Game 7 and become the World Series champions.
Carter said it wasn’t unusual for him to feel God was with him at the plate. In fact, he enjoyed the pressure situations. “I just pray in my heart about it,” he said. “Then I go up there, and I feel like He gives me something extra.”
After retiring from baseball, Carter elaborated with a story about a big game in 1997.
Gary Carter: “While in the on-deck circle, I really felt the presence of God right there. I normally prayed while in the on-deck circle, but this time I prayed maybe just a little more. With divine intervention, I lined a base hit into left field, which led to a rally and our 6–5 win. We then won Game 7 and the World Series. Without God in my life, that moment may have never happened.”
Nick Peters of the Sporting News wrote this about San Francisco Giants Jack Clark: “I’ve accepted God,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t getting fulfillment out of baseball last year, so I turned to the Lord and let Him guide me. I enjoy telling people about my involvement with the Lord and how He blesses my life. I find some people turn around and walk away when I start talking about it. But that’s their problem.’”
Baseball card courtesy of RetroSimba
Sometimes a born-again player should remain silent. In June 1985, the Omaha World-Herald reported: “St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog has stuck with catcher Darrell Porter, who has yet to throw out a would-be base stealer. But when Porter took 10 fastballs while striking out four times the other night, Herzog told Porter, ‘Darrell, you’ve got to do better than that.’
“A born-again Christian, Porter reassured Herzog that the Lord was with him. “You better listen to me,’ Herzog replied. ‘The Lord’s a terrific guy, but he doesn’t know anything about hitting.'”
Lowell Cohn of the San Francisco Chronicle had a humorous take on the issue. In May 1980, he wrote: “I was browsing through the Sporting News last week when I came upon the following headline: ‘Foster Finds Faith a Positive Factor.’ The article tells how George Foster of the Cincinnati Reds first noticed a change in himself when he went to a hypnotist. . . . The article goes on, ‘The biggest change in Foster . . . came when he ‘took God into my life.’
“Some guys get every edge. Not only is Foster one of the most awesome power hitters in baseball, but he also regularly pumps up his already mighty muscles with weights, consults a hypnotist—and now we find out he also has God on his side. It hardly seems fair. Ordinary guys like Darrell Evans and Marc Hill could use a little help from the deity to nudge their averages above .250—how else will they do it? Superstars like Foster ought to have the good taste to go it alone.”
Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson expressed his skepticism: “So many baseball teams have their ‘God Squads’ these days,” said Anderson, “players who after they hit a home run credit God with their good swing . . . like, ‘God made me hit that home run.’ You hear that a lot these days. I look at it this way: If God let you hit a home run last time up, then who struck you out next time at bat?”
Four-time National League batting title champion Bill Madlock put it in perspective: “It’s sort of misleading to say, ‘Well, because we have this Christian element on the club, we are winning.’ I think our faith helps us handle situations more effectively and helps us to play to our capabilities; that’s all.”
_____________
Excerpted from Matt Sieger’s book, The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978.
