Jr. to the Braves?

According to today's Atlanta-Journal Constitution, my beloved Atlanta Braves have an interest in none other than "Junior"- that's Ken Griffey Jr. Eight years ago, I would have been thrilled to see the future Hall of Famer join the Braves, but I must confess that at this stage of his career, I would rather see the "Kid" return to where it all began in Seattle. Sentimental? Perhaps, but I just hate seeing the greats of the game bouncing from team to team. In my humble opinion, Griffey has always been associated with the M's, despite the seven or eight years spent in Cincinnati. Then, seeing Mr. Griffey in a ChiSox uniform last year was like, well, seeing Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards uniform. It just wasn't right!! There's something right about seeing a Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, etc... staying with one team for the entirety of their careers. Just as it was "right" to see Tom Glavine return to the Braves before the 2008 season, so I think it would be for Junior to return to Seattle. Ken, if you by some strange work of God's providence read this, please do not finish your career anywhere else but Seattle. With the image of Major League Baseball and its stars having taken a major blow in recent years, the game needs something "good" like this reunion to take place so that we have something positive to talk about. Oh, and memo to the aforementioned Mr. Glavine: Tom, please forgo any temptation to sign with the Washington Nationals or any other major league team- you're a Brave and should retire a Brave. Don't try to hang on longer and in doing so spoil your brilliant career.

Baseball Stat Geek, or Christian Apologist?

My friend Rick recently loaned me some issues of the Baseball Research Journal and in one particular issue from 1985 was an interview with Bill James-baseball writer, historian, and statistician. In this interview, a discussion takes place concerning James' research and how people get upset with his evaluations. I found the following quotes very interesting in light of our postmodern society: James "The search for truth is a matter of finding the evidence and understanding it...But if a statement is true it's true-whether the person making the statement is an amateur or a professional doesn't matter...who you are doesn't have a thing to do with the validity of what you're saying." BF: "What you're talking about here, essentially is an objective truth." James: "...I'm not trying to convince anybody. I'm just showing what my research reveals. 'Look, here are the facts; this is what they mean.' Anybody who wants to believe it, I'm happy. But I don't have to convince any one individual, which is a lot more relaxing for me..." I think we Christians would do well by having that same mindset when we are engaged with unbelievers about our faith. A) Christianity is true, based on a historical person and an historical event. B) Just because we are not the cultural elitists doesn't mean the good news we proclaim is invalid. C) We can be confident that the lost will not come to faith because of our convincing them, but because salvation is a gift of grace from God, and apart from the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit no one would desire Christ.

Salary Arbitration

Nowhere but in professional sports can someone's performance be so atrocious, yet still receive (on average for a first time eligible player) a salary increase that is five-fold. Case in point: In 2008, my beloved Atlanta Braves' right fielder, Jeff Francoeur, posted career-lows in batting average (.239), home-runs (11), and slugging percentage (.359), and in doing so collected a salary of $460,000. Granted, he is a good right fielder, who has won a gold glove and has led the majors in outfield assists since his major league debut. But, he has a tendency to be a rally killer who can not (or will not) take a walk. It got so bad last summer, that the Braves sent him to the minors to try to make the necessary adjustments at plate that needed to take place. Three days later, Francoeur was recalled, only to continue in the mire. And so despite his wretched performance in 2008, Mr. Francoeur is arbitration eligible, which means he will receive at least some kind of (very large) salary increase. The Braves have appearantly offered "Frenchy" $2.8million, while he is asking for $3.95million. I'm sure Mr. Francoeur is a classy guy, and I sincerely hopes he can find his way at the plate again, but I must say that I can only hope that my employer would be so generous to me should my work performance go into the tank...