If you know me you know that I am a baseball fan. Not just my Cubs - but any baseball. Little League, Pony League, and all the other leagues. Some of my favorite games are minor league games. A bat, a ball, something to use as bases (a jacket, a frisbee, a paper plate, an X scratched in the dirt) - and you’ve got yourself a game. Hall of Famer Billy Williams tells stories about playing “Bottlecaps”. Get a broom handle and a beer bottle cap and same thing - a baseball game!
My Cubs (a fandom I share with Mr. Will) did not get any farther than the second round of the playoffs. They made it past the Padres who had their number in 1984. Following that they lost two quick games to the Brewers. Then, on Tuesday, they came home. The Friendly Confines. And, in front of roaring crowds, they won twice. Returning to Milwaukee for the deciding game, the Brewers proved to be the better team that day. As I said at the time, “Still a good season.”
Here are some important things for all of us baseball fans to remember.
1. There are thirty Major League Baseball teams. The season will end in disappointment for twenty-nine of them. 2. Baseball is an elegant game, open to replaying games in our imaginations all winter long. And 3. It’s only four months until spring training.
Let me go back to the beginning. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains.
That’s not just on the baseball field.
That’s the way life is. There will always be wins and losses. Life is elegant and we are blessed by our memories. And we will always have a chance to be forgiven for our errors and have another opportunity tomorrow.
God’s bless all the teams left to play. Thank God for all the teams that played at whatever level and got us to this time in the season. And may God keep all of us - players, fans, casual observers - safe.
With prayers for peace and HOPE,
Rev. Wally
