Diamonds in the Rough: The Gospel According to Baseball
V. "Calling on the Bullpen"
Dr. Will Cotton:
Many games, despite all the great efforts over the first parts of the game, are decided in the last two or three innings. The problem is that is when fatigue, heat and loss of concentration start to make their presence felt most. And the one who may feel those things most may be the one that is the most active and most stressed, the pitcher. So key to winning in the game is often the effectiveness of the relief pitcher. I have entitled this finale sermon, “Calling on the Bullpen.”
Why is it called “the bullpen?” No one knows for sure. Was it because they were in an enclosed area like bulls in the rodeo arena? Or is it as many think because the warm up area for relievers was always near the Bull Durham tobacco advertisements? Or was it as the immortal Casey Stengel said, “The term was derived from managers getting tired of their relief pitchers ‘shooting the bull’ in the dugout and were therefore sent elsewhere, where they wouldn’t be a bother to the rest of the team -- the bullpen?”
So what are the benefits of the relief pitcher? The first thing about a relief pitcher is that he or she is fresh. What a model for our exhausted and burned out world. Sometimes what we need is someone with a new set of eyes, new energy, and enthusiasm who can spark the team to better performance.
The second benefit of a relief pitcher is intensity. Presently day relievers throw the ball consistently at speeds approaching 100 mph. The key for them is they only have to do it for a little while – 2 innings, one inning, and in some cases one batter or even one pitch. Some people are most effective in short bursts. We criticize them for being “short-timers” and for not being there “for the long haul”. But is that fair? I really do believe we need to expand our models of who is successful and valuable. We also need to teach our children to find their natural place that meets their gifts and abilities. Sometimes you just need people to throw the heat for a little while.
The third benefit of a relief pitcher is specific ability. I have to admit that watching the great coaches shuffle pitchers strategically at the end of a close game is one of the more exciting parts of baseball. A left-handed pitcher will be put in against a left-handed batter. A specialist in pitching curves and sliders will be put in against a known fastball hitter. Here the bullpen is a wonderful mirror for the church. As the body of Christ we have been blessed with a wonderful variety of styles, abilities and intensities. In the next week or so, Barry Bonds will become the major league home run king. The likely one to break his record is A-Rod. The thing they have in common is that they have never won a championship. It takes a team. It takes each one being willing to play their role. So it is with us as people who follow Jesus. We rejoice in the opportunity to play our God-given role in reaching our world for Christ. That’s when we are the most productive and that’s when we are the happiest.
Yet, here is the dilemma: we don’t like to be the reliever and we don’t like to be relieved. When Don, Matt and I were discussing the sermon over lunch this week and sharing insights, we noticed that we had never seen a pitcher ask to be removed from a game. In fact, the pitcher will make every effort to stay in the game. If the pitches aren’t going to the spots and in the way the pitcher intends, the pitcher does what? The pitcher throws harder. Or the pitcher changes the way he or she throws. Now there’s a life picture. If things aren’t working, don’t seek help. Just do it harder.
Well, there’s an interesting thing that has been happening over the years with starting pitchers. It has to do with complete games – when a pitcher pitches all nine innings without any relief. Here are three well-known pitchers from Major League Baseball. The first is Cy Young, the one whose name is on the award for the best pitcher each year. Cy Young, who pitched from 1890-1911 won 511 games and out of 906 starts had 751 complete games (a whopping 80%). A more familiar name is Nolan Ryan, who won 324 games over a 28 year career from 1966-1993. This strike-out king started 749 games and completed 222 (a rate of 29%) – big difference! The leading pitchers in the the 21st century are completing 10% or less. In fact as you see here, the leading pitcher in the American League for this year has 3 complete games – for his 150 start career! It is apparent that as the game of baseball has become more demanding and complex, the rate of complete games has gone down dramatically. The importance of the bullpen has gone up that dramatically. Would it be too much of a stretch to compare that to our faster, more demanding and complex lives? Might we need the relief of others more now than ever? I think so. Is it possible that the secret for you have your most abundant and joyous life is sitting right beside you?
Yet, we want to be “the total package,” “the ultimate hero,” and do the “complete game.” Why doesn’t the pitcher want to leave the game? The pitcher feels displaced. In those early years of Cy Young, you were considered less of a player, even less of a man, if someone had to come in to relieve you. I fear that we have learned little since then. To ask for relief or help from somebody else seems to say that we are inadequate, that we are “less than,” that we are replaceable. Besides that, if you replace me once, maybe you’ll replace me permanently. What if we were to discover that our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ was not as competitive as it is complementary?
Rev. Matt Wolfington:
Jesus Christ - our ultimate relief. You talk about ball control. He never throws a bad pitch. It’s always exactly what is needed no matter what. God the father, as the coach, knows just when to send in the relief: The most loving, caring, true saving grace that doesn’t just save the game, but saves me.…and always at the perfect time. Relief from…..well, everything.
Jesus knows we cannot pitch the whole game and win. In fact, this is a game we can never win….at least not on our own. God worked and worked with His people for an untold number of centuries, trying to perfect their game, to allow them to pitch the whole game and win but they couldn’t do it on their own. One team practiced in the desert 40 years and still could never perfect their game. God had the bullpen getting ready for a long time and decided that enough was enough: God signaled a timeout and called in the relief.
It gets better. When I get relieved I don’t get sent down to the minors or a farm league, no I get sent to the big show when Christ comes to the mound. I get my status changed. I get signed to the Trinity League. I get pulled from the game and get put in a great relationship with God. I get justified. I get saved from myself! And that’s not all; when Christ comes in I get life-long, one-on-one instruction from the best coach ever known to man. We have a big word for this process that lasts our entire natural life in Christ: sanctification. That coaching lasts until I meet God. But that’s not all. Not only does the league pull you out of a game you can never win and save you from yourself and gives you life long instruction from the best coach; it is going to give you even more.
You’re saying to yourself right now, “Matt, this can’t be. How is this possible? Through the love of God, that’s how. You see all of this from the league:
The free salvation,
The promotion from this earthly game to the realms of heaven,
The life-long instruction,
And having the best coach ever known to man is all just really the beginning of what the league has to offer: All of this is to show the enormous, unconditional love that God has for anyone willing to take the relief.
The issue here is that I am a sinner. I think I am good, sometimes really good in fact, but I am not. I should have to play out the entire stinking game. I should have to throw my marginal pitches over and over again and keep having them knocked out of the park. I should be made to lose and lose BIG.
So many people label God as mean, vengeful and full of wrath. That just isn’t so. I am so unworthy that I should be thrown out of the league and never be heard from again, but I still get relief. I am a sinner yet I still get relief from Christ. “Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God’s love toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!” Sound familiar? It should. We say it as we take communion. God loves you and God loves me. No father, no person for that matter, would make this type of sacrifice (point to cross) for people he did not truly love!
Think about it, even when the whole team is in a state of hostility towards God the Father Almighty, he still sends in the relief, his only son, Jesus Christ. The disciples were constantly trying to figure him out. One disciple, Peter, denied him and another, Judas, betrayed him. The crowds said crucify him and still yet, the relief saves the day and finishes the game…. “It is finished.”