Field of Dreams, Part 2

Concluding my ramblings of yesterday...

As we traversed baseball's hallowed halls, I read off big-names and no-names. Those who made significant impact; others whose contributions were limited or unsung. Players, managers, owners, umpires, announcers, scouts and more, all with different roles and varying recognition. But everyone in the Hall had a part to play in making this game what it is today.  

If you check out God's Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11) you'll find a parallel. Read it and you'll see the big-name players, the Mantles, Ruths and Koufaxes- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and other "superstars" of the faith. People we try to imitate and be like.  But there are countless others, with names unrecorded, but whose record is present nonetheless.  Though we don't know them, we know their game- they were mighty in battle, they routed armies, they faced torture, were mocked and beaten, stoned, killed with the sword, became wanderers, and more. We don't know their identities but we know they played to the best of their abilities...and their record is here.

There's also a section of the Hall representing today's game. In it you'll find pictures and accomplishments of current players- the Kershaws, Trouts, and Poseys of the game.  They're tomorrow's inductees into this place.  And if you read the beginning Hebrews 12, you'll see that the current crop of players (that's you and me!) are included in this picture.  As we are cheered on by those who blazed the trail, we are to carry on what they lived for.  It's our turn, it's our time, it's our place.  And we are called to finish what we began, as we look to the One who set the ultimate example for us- Jesus.

So even as I gaze upon these HOF players who helped shape and determine the course of America's game, I long to look even more upon the men and women who have gone before me in the faith, setting the example, leading the way and shaping course of something of far greater impact.  And now it's my turn, your turn, to rise up and live out this faith journey as we continue the thread begun so long ago.  It's our time at bat, and what we do will determine the course of those who come after us, who look to us, imitate us, want to be like us.  Set the example, live out what you say is of greatest value, and know that God's design is for you to part of His HOF- and that would be the Hall of Faith.

Get your game on!

                                   Jackie Robinson

                         The Hall's Gallery of Plaques

                        Josh ratcheting up his fastball

         Dodger locker with present stars/memorabilia

                                    Gotta love Vinny!

                           Main Street Cooperstown

                        East coast merchandising bias

      Effa Manley, the only woman elected to the HOF

                 Kershaw and Trout, today's vanguards

                             But it never happened

Field of Dreams

Right now, my son Josh and I are in Cooperstown, NY, at Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. This is something I've dreamt of since I was a kid, so Josh arranged this junket for my 60th birthday (yesterday), and it has not disappointed!

We spent about nine hours in the HOF yesterday, soaking up baseball lore. We were overwhelmed with the vast amount of history before our eyes. Many names here were familiar to me, through what I'd read or heard about as a boy, and what I saw firsthand growing up.  There they were, the greatest of the great- Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Joe Dimaggio, Sandy Koufax, Dizzy Dean, Jackie Robinson, Roger Maris, and my boyhood idol, Mickey Mantle. 

These men were larger than life to me as a kid.  More than superstars, they embodied everything I understood as the best of baseball. I wanted to be like them- heck, we all did- so I patterned myself after them, mimicking Mantle's batting stance, trying to field like Brooks Robinson and be as tough-nosed as Yogi Berra.  Never mind that I couldn't hit like Mantle, field like Robinson, or be as resilient as Berra. To try to be like them was enough.

Another aspect that rang out as we wandered room to room was the vast number of men and women whose names we didn't know.  Names unfamiliar to most, yet their stories were chronicled alongside the more prominent players of the game. Often their stories were parts of accounts I had never read. Stories like the place of women's teams and leagues formed as early as the 1800s.  Or the development and struggle of segregated black and Caribbean leagues along the east coast from the 1870s. Although they were every bit as talented as white players and teams, they would not begin to find a place in the Major Leaues until Jackie Robinson's courageous career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. 

I have some more thoughts about how my experience reminded me of another Hall of Fame, but I'll save that for tomorrow.  RIght now, a few pictures of our experience:

 

                                  At the HOF entrance

                  At one of the Jackie Robinson displays

                     Babe Ruth, cornerstone of the Hall

                          Tony Gwynn's HOF plaque

             One of Sandy Koufax's Cy Yound Awards

                 Minnie Minoso eyeing Josh's beard

                                  Ty Cobb's glove

                        Number 7- MicKEY MANtle