Take me out to the ballgame, take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, I don’t care if I never get back!
I won’t do the whole song, but I want to–I really do. It is Spring Training! Baseball is back, and for the first time, I’m going to head down to watch the beloved Cardinals take the field in Jupiter. Yep, we are going to a few games in sunny Florida, and we are pretty excited. Even though the games down there don’t matter standings-wise, my wife and I are really looking forward to seeing the players we’ve grown to admire. See that is what we love–the stories of the men on the field, of their families, of what their lives are like in addition to the things they do with glove and bat.
And, yes, their faith too.
Intentional Walk takes a look into the clubhouse culture driven by several Cardinals who are men of faith. The book was originally intended to be a look at the story of faith of Manager Mike Matheny, but as writer Rob Rains interviewed several players and personnel he realized that faith stories abounded. So instead of making this a tale of one man’s journey, he selected a handful of players and personnel who were eager to tell what their faith meant to them, how they got where they are in that journey, and how faith impacts their families, their friendships, their teammates, and their baseball professions. Some players featured in the book: Adam Wainwright, Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, David Freese, Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, and Trevor Rosenthal.
This month’s book is available in the Resource Center in Echo or at most major booksellers.
I have had the opportunity to hear Mike Matheny talk about his faith and how he takes that into the dugout and how it affects the players! Very inspirational to hear about someone who lives his faith!
there was a great story in the Post-Dispatch the other day about a split squad game. The losers would have to clean the clubhouse. Matheny wasn’t a part of either team, but insisted on being responsible for cleaning all the toilets himself. Love that kind of servant leadership.