Play ball! On Christianity and Baseball in American History

I discover it very odd that Main League Baseball's Opening Day falls on Maundy Thursday. However whereas the March 29 begin marks a pointy break with greater than a century of custom — in one of many few American pastimes that actually emphasizes continuity with the previous — the timing can function a reminder that Christianity and baseball have usually intertwined in American historical past. . For instance, final summer time I used an Anxiousness bench a contribution to the exploration of the non secular historical past of the Negro Leagues.

So to your Holy Week/Open Home studying pleasure, let me suggest a number of extra posts, articles, and essays about Christianity and baseball:

• Final 12 months, our buddy Paul Putz not solely reviewed latest non secular biographies of Jackie Robinson Christianity Right this momenthowever he blogged about Felipe Ala, a convert from Catholicism to evangelicalism who was one of many first Latinos featured within the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

• Earlier, Paul and sports activities historian Artwork Remillard included Billy Sunday, Bob Feller, and Christy Mathewson amongst their “proto-athletes” in American non secular historical past. (Paul additionally reviewed a ebook on Mathewson's religion for Sports activities in American Historical past weblog. I as soon as wrote about baseball's “Christian Gentleman” as a part of a put up on muscular Christianity.)

• One of many many causes to proceed lamenting the ending Books and tradition is that this Christian assessment so frequently featured essays on baseball. Fortuitously, many of those articles are nonetheless accessible on-line. For some time, Michael R. Stevens compiled an annual season preview and sometimes contributed items like this to Roger Kahn's ebook on the tip of the colour line. I additionally admire historian Eric Miller's essay on baseball as (greater than?) a enterprise:

But our enduring, sentimental perception that market-driven enterprise can shield and nurture our most important beliefs, practices, and establishments persists. Haven't we endured sufficient historical past to know higher? If neither training, nor authorities, nor church, nor household, nor well being, nor heaven, nor finance itself is protected within the arms of the market—regardless of the vigilance of excellent women and men who attempt to make the system work for us, not only for themselves— why ought to we give it baseball?

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• In 2016, Baptist minister Susan Sparks shared a number of “Easter classes” from baseball, together with this one: “…there's at all times mockery. Everyone knows it from Good Friday. We acknowledge this in our personal lives. There’ll at all times be folks on this world preferring jealousy to pleasure, individuals who would moderately tear us down than construct us up, and individuals who would moderately destroy than rejoice in one thing nice.”

• For Scott Carney, Carlton Fisk's iconic house run in Sport 6 of the 1975 World Collection exemplified his want for heaven.

• And one Milwaukee Brewers fan needed to admit that the 2016 Chicago Cubs served for instance that “there is no such thing as a good with no battle in baseball and within the Christian life.”

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• Not everybody celebrated the connection between sport and faith. Ten years in the past, the so-called “Nights of Religion” had been expanded in main league soccer stadiums New York Occasions columnist Murray Chass to name for the “separation of church and baseball.”

• Baseball has no scarcity of outstanding Christian superstars (plus Tim Tebow), however how non secular are MLB gamers? A psychologist investigated this query final 12 months Baseball Prospectus.

• Lastly, my very own weblog has included a number of posts on the non secular historical past of baseball, from Easter reflections on John Updike's well-known essay on Ted Williams' remaining at bat to an article on the Amish's love of America's nationwide pastime.

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I'm certain I'm simply scratching the floor right here. Please use the feedback part to share hyperlinks to your favourite writing about Christianity and baseball.