Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

You can’t say “October at Nativity” without saying “Fall Festival.” No, wait. I meant to say, “Baseball Play-offs.”

The Tampa Bay Amazing Rays have the best record in the American League. Even Ed has to admit, they have beaten the Damn Yankees this season like a drum. 

Normally the Rays win games playing small ball. They run the bases, play defense, and make every hit count. With a payroll one-third of the big-market teams, they nurture young players in a top-rated farm system. This season, they have swung for the fences.

In 2020, they went almost all the way, falling a game short in the World Series to a pretty good squad from the City of Angel. In October, they have a good chance to bring home the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Granted, my loyalty should lie with the Boston Red Sox or the St. Louis Cardinals playing in heavily Catholic towns. Yet with a Rays roster including Diaz, Mejia, Arozarena, and Cruz, baseball isn’t their only religion when they step into the batter’s box and make the sign of the cross.

Some baseball players have much to recommend to the faithful. Roberto Clemente and Henry Aaron, for example, were two Hall of Famers from the 1950s and 60s forced to eat and sleep in private homes while the white members of the team slept in nice air-conditioned hotels and dined in restaurants. Fans and sportswriters judged them by the color of their skin more than by their play on the field. Their pay was a fraction of mediocre white players. Yet taking the narrow way, they changed hardened hearts and a segregated system. 

Clemente died in a plane crash delivering aid to Nicaragua after an earthquake. The Clemente Award is given today to ballplayers who demonstrate his humanitarian work. Read about his inspiring life in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss.

Hank Aaron survived death threats as he broke Babe Ruth’s home-run record. I can recommend the biography The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant.

The broadcaster Scott Simon wrote a delightful book, My Cubs: A Love Story. Even if it had not ended happily ever after with the 2016 World Series after a century of frustration, his passion for the Chicago Cubs makes it an inspiring read.

I can go on and on with baseball books. I’ve read a bunch. But I got to go. The Rays are up.

In Christ,

Father David