A-Rod and Baseball

And with that, my favorite baseball player says goodbye to the game. From a young phenom, to a beleaguered veteran, A-Rod exemplified baseball. A game that doesn’t demand perfection, but in turn will tout you as one of the best if you fail 7 out of 10 times. Just like in life, it gives you multiple opportunities to succeed. There’s always another at-bat, another pitch, another game, another season, until it’s time to call it quits.

Sure, the game also encourages theft and will either keep a glowing or awful record of your thievery. But what that also teaches us is that no matter what stage in life you’re in or how you got there, there’s always more out there for you. There’s more for the taking if we time things right, think things through and give it our best to get there. It also acknowledges that you will have opposition, obstacles or actual people that will be standing in the way of your success and in many ways your journey home.

There was little that A-Rod could not do with the amount of God-given talent he possessed, and there’s little all of us could do having God by our side. A-Rod’s retirement is not only a reminder of my age, but also that all things come to an end. Even as a Christian banking on eternity I know that the temporal part of my life here on earth is exactly that, temporal.

Like A-Rod’s career, I must take the highs with the lows, be humble in the glory knowing there will be trying times where even I will get in my own way. Where there’ll be just as many errors outside of the field as within it, many unforced. That the more you are given, the more is expected of you.

You see to me baseball has always been way more than just a game. My dad would take me to Yankee Stadium and one of the things that still stands out to me is how complete strangers transform into best friends. We all are rooting for the same goal, relishing in the successes and taking in the agony of defeat. There’s a special comradery at games, the cheering, the smiles, the high-fives, the sense of unity: there’s no way God doesn’t smile at that. Many times it’s just like church and I can look around at faces during tense situations in games and see something that can only be identified as prayer.

In Baseball, like in life, there are no timeouts. But it’s often necessary to slow things down, take the time to talk to those around you. Listen to good advice, see where you are and what are the best moves moving forward. Baseball teaches us that individual accolades don’t mean much if you don’t win as a team, if you’re not making those around you better, especially those looking up to you. It also becomes pointless if you’re not enjoying the experience, win or lose. There are far more important things in life than what we do. There are people in our lives that depend not so much on our performance but simply our presence.

A-Rod’s career and retirement serves as a reminder to always do your best. Your ‘best’ may decline throughout the years, and you may not always have the opportunity to give it. All in all, this is why I love baseball, and this is why I love A-Rod. He was the best.