Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Baseball, Biblical Masculinity, and Godly Character, Part 3
Randy Stinson
May 29, 2008
[Editor's note: On Tuesday Gender Blog began a four-part series by Randy Stinson on baseball and biblical manhood. Today, in Part 3, Stinson, who serves as president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, gives four more ways in which he uses the game of baseball in the lives of his two sons to build Christian character and cultivate biblical masculinity.]
Strike 3! Failure
The dreaded strike out. It is one of the worst feelings in baseball. You stepped up to the plate, had at least three opportunities and failed, and now you are walking back to the dugout with fans and peers looking on. Your failure is abundantly obvious.
Hitting a pitched ball is notoriously one of the most difficult tasks in all of sports, with a 30% success rate being deemed very high. When you get to the plate, the odds are that you are going to fail.
Principle for Manhood: My boys are not to pout, hit the ground with their bat, throw their helmet, look incredulously at the umpire, (or their father in the stands), or go to the dugout and sulk. It is childish, hurts morale, and reveals a serious character flaw. You are going to fail. Baseball teaches it every inning. By its very nature, baseball is a humbling game.
When You Can't Find the Plate: Humility
Sometimes, even the most consistent pitchers have outings when they just cannot "find the plate." Usually possessing great control, a pitcher cannot, for some reason, throw a strike. Few things are worse than being the center of attention, unable to perform a duty that you know you can normally perform.
Recently, one of my sons found himself in this position. As ball after ball, and walk and walk mounted up, it was obvious he could just not "find the plate." Most parents hate for their sons to be pulled from a game. Not me. I was relieved when the coach, on his own, ended the fiasco.
In the car, after the game, I led my son to pray a prayer of gratitude for the humiliation. Why? Because it was a gift. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. The cultivation of humility in a poor pitching performance should cultivate gratitude to God.
Principle for Manhood: While we want to practice hard and play the game well, we will see the bobbled ground balls, failure to find the plate, overthrows, and missed fly balls as evidence of God's mercy to us as he places things in our life to help us become humble. We do not want to live in such a way that we invite the active opposition of God.
Keep a Short Memory: Resilience
One of the most important skills to cultivate in baseball is keeping a short memory. A swing and a miss has to be immediately forgotten because another pitch is coming. A missed ground ball has to be immediately forgotten because another batter is coming to the plate. A dropped pop fly must be immediately forgotten because another one is surely on the way.
The phrase, "keep a short memory" encourages the cultivation of resilience. It is good for a young man to get knocked down, only to have to get right back up again. Biblical masculinity requires resilience, a Godly toughness.
Principle for Manhood: In the wake of a mistake or botched play, your personal disappointment must be secondary to the next play, which will be happening...approximately five seconds from now. Self-preoccupation and self-pity are enemies of masculinity.
Winners and Losers: Grace, Mercy and Honor
This is not the part about "its how you play the game." This is where it's time to discuss that someone wins and someone loses. My concern for my sons is how they act in each situation.
When they are winning big, do they taunt the other team or laugh at their poor play? When they are losing big, do they pout, cry or make excuses (the umpire, the weather)? While competition can be bad, I think there is something inherent in us that strives for victory and loathes defeat. Genesis 3:15 illustrates a profound struggle and a crushing victory. Paul uses language of competition when he alludes to contending for the Gospel. (Jude 3) and also striving for sanctification (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
Principle for Manhood: The inward desire to embrace victory and avoid defeat is an opportunity to point ourselves to the Gospel. In our losses, we congratulate our opponent on their great victory and purpose to strengthen our weaknesses. In our great victories, we honor our opponent by extending grace.
