Throwing out the first pitch

On the back of the mound in Cardinals Stadium in St. Louis is a cross drawn (sketched, etched, hollowed out) in the sand. There also is a fish symbol, the ichthys there. Someone on the grounds crew apparently is the designer.

Bob McClellan, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, wrote a column in Sunday's paper saying the artwork scares him.

Manager Mike Matheny, who brought up his faith at one of the first team meetings last spring, not only isn't bothered by the art, he likes it. "I'm not going to shove my faith down your throat," Matheny said, "but when the opportunity presents itself, don't expect me to walk away. This is who I am, and Jesus Christ is at the center of my life. It's all that I am, every day, every decision that I make. I'm going to stand up and tell you what I believe is true."

McClellan, in his column, says he is not very religious but he is not against public displays of faith. He has argued on behalf of Nativity scenes on public squares at Christmas, for example.

Ironically, the guy who covers the Cardinals for the newspaper, used to work for me in my other life. One day we had a long discussion about Christianity that finally ended when he said he would never believe because "babies die." My staffer said he couldn't believe because God allowed babies to be born, to be loved by their parents, then often die. He said the pain that caused was so terrible, and God could prevent it if he wanted. Instead, God allows the suffering to happen.

McClellan, in his Sunday column, wrote, "I look at the photos of that cross etched on the mound and I get an uneasy feeling. What does religion have to do with baseball?"

The answer, of course, is nothing. Religion and baseball have nothing to do with each other except, and this is a big, big exception, baseball is played mostly by humans. And humans were created by God. And in this creation business, this human business, God shares humanity and gives His love. So that by creating, then loving, then sharing that love, God's business becomes our business. It's not only the circle of life, it's sure nuff the circle of love.

God's business is this: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whosoever he loves would have eternal life.

Does religion have anything to do with baseball? Nah. But God does. And that's enough, even if it scares a sports columnist who thinks the fish symbol (which was used to identify those secret-identity conscious Christians in the very early days of The Way) is "a looping figure said to represent Stan Musial's number 6." God loves the sinner and hates the sin, so therefore, God loves those who participate in baseball even if he's iffy about the game itself.

Play ball.