It’s been quite a week in Major League Baseball. To begin with, a legendary piece of sports memorabilia, the jersey Babe Ruth wore during his iconic "called shot" in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, has sold for a staggering $24.12 million at an auction in Dallas.
It was a record-breaking six long hour sale, surpassing the $12.6 million paid for Mickey Mantle's 1952 rookie card last year. The buyer has chosen to remain anonymous, according to Heritage Auctions.
Next, it has been reported that Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani both showcased their remarkable athleticism, as Judge smashed seven home runs in six games for the Yankees, lifting his season total to 51. He now aims to surpass 60 homers for the second time in three years, potentially breaking his American League record of 62 set in 2022.
Meanwhile, Ohtani joined a very elite group by hitting 40 homers and stealing 40 bases within a single season, becoming only the sixth player in MLB history to accomplish this.
Normally, these two stories would have been amazing enough in the news for one week. But something else happened for the very first time ever in Major League Baseball this week - something truly amazing.
It seems that Danny Jansen started a game playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, ended it playing for the Boston Red Sox. He became the first ever MLB player to play for two teams in one game:
An earlier game in which he was at bat for the Blue Jays was delayed by rain. While waiting for the continuation of the game, he was traded to the opposing team, the Red Sox. And when the game finally picked back up this past week, the Blue Jays had a pinch hitter finish Jansen's at-bat while the Red Sox had none other than Jansen himself behind the plate as catcher. Jansen later called the experience both called "cool" and "strange." And for what it’s worth, Toronto went on to win, 4-1.
I share this because it is not uncommon for players to switch teams. Trades happen all the time. But not mid-game!
I thought about it, however, and concluded that while switching over to the other team might be uncommon in baseball, it may well occur a little more often in life than we realize.
Have you ever known someone to suddenly “go over to the other side” with little or no notice or prompting? I have; and the consequences can be devastating. Allies sometimes do it. Bosses sometimes do it. Employees sometimes do it. Spouses, too, often do it. And yes, church members and even Christians often do it. The reasons given to justify this are often varied and vague.
We all know what it is like to have someone depart on us unexpectedly. But to have them then set up camp in some context that seems completely antithetical to where they were can be disappointing at best and devastating at worse.
Believers, especially, should avoid being wishy washy. They should also avoid being duplicitous. If we have professed faith in and made a commitment to Jesus Christ, we should remain faithful to that profession and commitment for life.
After all, as the Bible tells us, not just once, but a myriad of times, our Lord has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. That is one promise that always has and always will be kept.
And if He is faithful not to skip out on us, then surely we should be faithful not to skip out on Him in turn. Implicit in this is that we should not only remain faithful to Him, but also to all those He has called us to love and faithfully support as well.
Remember that the next time you are tempted to “jump ship” and suddenly begin playing for the opposing team!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/31-6.htm;
https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/31-8.htm;
https://biblehub.com/joshua/1-5.htm;
https://biblehub.com/1_kings/6-13.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrews/13-5.htm.
NEWS STORY SOURCES:
https://www.newser.com/story/354818/he-may-make-unusual-baseball-history-next-week.html#google_vignette;
https://www.newser.com/story/355156/judge-and-ohtani-shine-in-record-breaking-week.html;
https://www.newser.com/story/355131/babe-ruths-iconic-jersey-sells-for-record-24m.html.
It was a record-breaking six long hour sale, surpassing the $12.6 million paid for Mickey Mantle's 1952 rookie card last year. The buyer has chosen to remain anonymous, according to Heritage Auctions.
Next, it has been reported that Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani both showcased their remarkable athleticism, as Judge smashed seven home runs in six games for the Yankees, lifting his season total to 51. He now aims to surpass 60 homers for the second time in three years, potentially breaking his American League record of 62 set in 2022.
Meanwhile, Ohtani joined a very elite group by hitting 40 homers and stealing 40 bases within a single season, becoming only the sixth player in MLB history to accomplish this.
Normally, these two stories would have been amazing enough in the news for one week. But something else happened for the very first time ever in Major League Baseball this week - something truly amazing.
It seems that Danny Jansen started a game playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, ended it playing for the Boston Red Sox. He became the first ever MLB player to play for two teams in one game:
An earlier game in which he was at bat for the Blue Jays was delayed by rain. While waiting for the continuation of the game, he was traded to the opposing team, the Red Sox. And when the game finally picked back up this past week, the Blue Jays had a pinch hitter finish Jansen's at-bat while the Red Sox had none other than Jansen himself behind the plate as catcher. Jansen later called the experience both called "cool" and "strange." And for what it’s worth, Toronto went on to win, 4-1.
I share this because it is not uncommon for players to switch teams. Trades happen all the time. But not mid-game!
I thought about it, however, and concluded that while switching over to the other team might be uncommon in baseball, it may well occur a little more often in life than we realize.
Have you ever known someone to suddenly “go over to the other side” with little or no notice or prompting? I have; and the consequences can be devastating. Allies sometimes do it. Bosses sometimes do it. Employees sometimes do it. Spouses, too, often do it. And yes, church members and even Christians often do it. The reasons given to justify this are often varied and vague.
We all know what it is like to have someone depart on us unexpectedly. But to have them then set up camp in some context that seems completely antithetical to where they were can be disappointing at best and devastating at worse.
Believers, especially, should avoid being wishy washy. They should also avoid being duplicitous. If we have professed faith in and made a commitment to Jesus Christ, we should remain faithful to that profession and commitment for life.
After all, as the Bible tells us, not just once, but a myriad of times, our Lord has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. That is one promise that always has and always will be kept.
And if He is faithful not to skip out on us, then surely we should be faithful not to skip out on Him in turn. Implicit in this is that we should not only remain faithful to Him, but also to all those He has called us to love and faithfully support as well.
Remember that the next time you are tempted to “jump ship” and suddenly begin playing for the opposing team!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/31-6.htm;
https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/31-8.htm;
https://biblehub.com/joshua/1-5.htm;
https://biblehub.com/1_kings/6-13.htm;
https://biblehub.com/hebrews/13-5.htm.
NEWS STORY SOURCES:
https://www.newser.com/story/354818/he-may-make-unusual-baseball-history-next-week.html#google_vignette;
https://www.newser.com/story/355156/judge-and-ohtani-shine-in-record-breaking-week.html;
https://www.newser.com/story/355131/babe-ruths-iconic-jersey-sells-for-record-24m.html.