Long shots are to be taken!

Hey, it ain't over til it's over!  Don't forget it!

Baseball is good!

Indulge a granddad who loves baseball, but grandsons even more!

Owen and Wyatt had a good day at their respective ball parks on Saturday. I was lucky enough to make both games!

Had to post some of what I saw. You'll hear me going bonkers over both of them!

Time out for celebration! Finally!!!

Time out for a baseball fanatic's core meltdown!

At last!

Finally, after all these years the Texas Rangers won a place in the World Series!

The best thing about the entire season is the obvious strength of the team and the team concept.

The Texas Rangers provide us a living portrait of real "community" at work.

Go Rangers!

(photos from The Dallas Morning News, 10-23-10)

Always team, always

It's one of the main reasons that I love baseball.

Baseball is about community.

Baseball has its stars, and they make the game incredibly interesting.

But, the journeymen and the rookies and the guys "called up" who play their part--they make it interesting, as well.

I know it's true in all team sports. But, well, baseball is just special and very different.

Take the game on Thursday, July 30 between the Chicago White Sox and visiting Tampa Bay at U. S. Cellular Field.

White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle entered the ninth inning with a perfect game--24 batters up, 24 batters down.

Entering the game in center field for the first time at the beginning of the ninth was unheralded Dewayne Wise, a player who had been around the major leagues for several years, but with not much success. The .200 hitter was accustomed to entering games in the late innings.

The first Tampa Bay batter in that last inning was former Texas Ranger Gabe Kapler.

Kapler hit a long, long drive to deep center field over the head of Wise. At the crack of the bat, Wise turned and ran toward the center field fence where he judged the ball would come down, if it didn't clear the fence.

Wise made a spectacular, leaping catch at the top of the wall. . .the first time he caught it. The ball game out of the top of his glove as both ball and player fell toward the ground. During the fall, Wise snagged the ball with his free hand, securing the first out of the last inning and helping preserve the no-hit, perfect game for his pitcher, Buehrle.

What a moment! What an effort!

Sports Illustrated reported that Buehrle's time on the mound during the game was just a little over 30 minutes. I suppose that's what happens when there are no base runners.

Dewayne Wise was in the game for a much shorter time. But his contribution made all the difference.

Baseball.

Great moments.

Team.

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Baseball and community

Jim Wallis leads off the latest issue of Soj0urners magazine with a little commentary, "The Real Meaning of Sports," on the value of baseball to the process of community development.

What he shares is worthwhile and right on!

This issue of Sojourners focuses on sports, faith, and human rights. But I am going to write in a little more personal way, as a Little League Baseball coach.

I’ve coached my son Luke in baseball since he was 5 years old, and now he is 10. I just started coaching my other son, Jack, last season when he was 5. Coaching my kids and their friends has been one of the great experiences of my life. The community that gets created around sports and school becomes what my wife, Joy, calls “the village,” where everybody is looking out for each other. If I am “the coach,” Joy has become the “village priest” when necessary.

It’s that relationship with the kids and their families that has been so rich and sustaining. When I am coaching, I am in “the zone,” and nothing from the rest of my life interferes. I actually schedule my spring and fall travel now around baseball. This has become sacred, even contemplative, space for me, when I get totally focused on the kids and their game. Of course, this is Washington, D.C.—I’ve actually had reporters come up to me on the sidelines and say something like, “Aren’t you Jim Wallis? I’m the new White House correspondent for a national newspaper. Do you have a reaction to what happened yesterday?” I just stare back incredulously, “I’m coaching! Call me at the office tomorrow!”

Read the entire essay here.

Any baseball or other sports stories out there about games and their importance or relevance to community development?

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