Strike Two!

I do not know which is worse: Being a little bit surprised by the findings of the Mitchell report or thinking that baseball had changed its ways. I really like to give people the benefit of the doubt. After all I am not supposed to judge anybody, but when I heard that Mitchell report had concluded that all 30 teams in Major League Baseball had at least 1 player who was using steroids at some point within the last 10 years, I became very judgmental.

As a Minnesota Twins fan because I grew up in Minnesota, I enjoyed watching both the 1987 and the 1991 World Series'. I enjoyed hearing Kirby Puckett's name being announced by the unmistakable voice of Bob Casey, the Metrodome announcer, and then seeing him put one in the nose bleed section. I also enjoyed watching Kent Hrbek and Chuck Knoblock and the other Twins players at the time. That of course was before baseball lost its innocence in the strike of the mid-1990's. That was strike 1. I really did not like baseball for a while after that and not too much later the greats of the game that I grew up with started to retire.

I was starting to get back into baseball a little bit. I again began to follow the Twins and their several appearances in post-season games. I began to really follow the Twins when I was in seminary and had friends that were White Sox fans. I enjoyed our conversations.

Yesterday was not a good day for baseball or any other professional sport, as far as I am concerned. Lost again was the innocence of the game. Although, for some time we have wondered about certain players, such as the wanna-be home run king. And it hurts, it really does, for whether they know it or not, there are people-children who look up to these players who listen to their speeches about not cheating and being good. Now who can you believe.

I guess that it is a good thing that I am a pastor. As someone who proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ, we first have to start at the beginning. We "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23. We are all loved by God-even baseball players who use steroids and lie to Congress. The question is what we do about it. We have to make it right. We have to come clean. We must repent of our sins-turn away from them, and come to faith in Jesus and rest in his grace.

Unfortunately this is not always easy and sometimes it hurts and while we are forgiven of our sins the consequences of them are still in play. For public figures that probably means a downfall. I suppose, after awhile, I will again become interested in baseball, but unfortunately the umpire has called "Strike 2."