Strike Four: The Evolution of Baseball By Richard Hershberger Thank you to Chaplain Mike for giving me space to flog my book–especially since its connection to the usual theme of this blog is, um…, tangential. (It turns out upon close examination that the 59 beads of a rosary is not the same number as theContinue reading “Richard Hershberger — Strike Four: The Evolution of Baseball”
Category Archives: Baseball and life
Another Look: Just Over the Horizon (with bubblegum)
Another moment I have always remembered was walking out on deck one night after supper and finding a young red-haired officer peering into the dark through binoculars. He told me he was scanning the horizon for signs of other ships, and the way to do that, he explained, was to look not at the horizonContinue reading “Another Look: Just Over the Horizon (with bubblegum)”
Fridays with Michael Spencer: March 31, 2017. Opening Day Edition
Note from CM: Michael Spencer, one of the world’s greatest baseball fans, died on Opening Day of the MLB season — April 5, 2010. The box score above shows that his beloved Cincinnati Reds lost that night to the St. Louis Cardinals. Win or lose, I can’t think of Michael without smiling in brotherly sympathy with hisContinue reading “Fridays with Michael Spencer: March 31, 2017. Opening Day Edition”
“All them 1001 deaths have taught me”
I work with people who are grieving. Grief is our human response to loss. We normally use the word to speak of someone who’s lost a loved one through death, but grief is bigger than that. Much more fundamental to the experience of daily life than that. In fact, we might think of life itselfContinue reading ““All them 1001 deaths have taught me””
We all need a little “crazy” time
Sometimes you just gotta do something a little bit crazy. Gail is away on a retreat this week, giving me a little freedom to do some different things, and I’ve been feeling “blah” for as long as I remember. I thought it was time to get out of the doldrums by doing something to wakeContinue reading “We all need a little “crazy” time”
Sundays with Michael Spencer: May 10, 2015
The crowd at the ball game is moved uniformly by a spirit of uselessness which delights them, all the exciting detail of the chase and the escape, the error the flash of genius, all to no end save beauty the eternal – • William Carlos Williams “The Crowd At The Baseball Game” • • •Continue reading “Sundays with Michael Spencer: May 10, 2015”
Enjoy It While You Can
This year will mark the end of an era in baseball. The greatest reliever of all time, Mariano Rivera, announced the other day that 2013 will be his final season. I will make sure I’m watching whenever I can. We wrote about Mo last year when he was injured. Now we’re looking forward to oneContinue reading “Enjoy It While You Can”
Game of Errors
And yet another story about why I love baseball so much… Jeff Passan and Kevin Kaduk at Yahoo Sports report: Sometime this weekend, an unlucky soul will commit the 500,000th error in baseball history. It has taken the sport 136 years to accumulate enough bobbles, bungles, kicks, trips, flips, flops, flings and altogether awful things toContinue reading “Game of Errors”
iMonk Classic: All to no end…save beauty, the eternal
The crowd at the ball game is moved uniformly by a spirit of uselessness which delights them, all the exciting detail of the chase and the escape, the error the flash of genius, all to no end save beauty the eternal – -William Carlos Williams, “The Crowd At The Baseball Game” * * * MondayContinue reading “iMonk Classic: All to no end…save beauty, the eternal”
One of My Favorite Cases
A few years ago, I was involved in a unique chaplaincy situation with a patient and family that combined two of my greatest loves: pastoral care and Cubs baseball. It illustrates one of the basic principles I try to follow in pastoral ministry — Take interest in the interests of those you are trying toContinue reading “One of My Favorite Cases”
The Internet Monk Archives 