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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
ARLINGTON, Texas — After a slow start to his first season with the Texas Rangers, Jake Burger is crushing the ball again.
The secret to the 29-year-old slugger’s renewed success?
The devout Catholic ballplayer gives credit to a fellow Midwesterner: Pope Leo XIV.
Burger said he likes to think that Leo — formerly known as Cardinal Robert Prevost — saw him play during the corner infielder’s time with the Chicago White Sox from 2021 to 2023.
The future pope was shown on video attending the 2005 World Series, when the White Sox won their first championship in 88 years.
“It seems like he’s a baseball fan, and it’s just really cool to finally get an American in there,” Burger said of the Chicago-born clergyman’s May 8 election to lead the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Catholics. “Hopefully, he does some great things.”
Related: A pitch to follow Jesus: Baseball fans embrace players’ faith testimonials
In a dugout interview with Religion Unplugged, Burger said he’s always worn a rosary bead necklace — a symbol of prayer, faith and devotion in Catholicism — under his uniform.
But just since Leo’s election, Texas’ regular first baseman has started celebrating big hits in a new way: with the sign of the cross.
“I try to honor him in any way I can,” Burger said this week during a series against the Toronto Blue Jays. “For me, it was finding some really lighthearted stuff with faith involved — and try to bring that energy every single day from a strong faith background.”
This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
Photo by Bailey Orr, courtesy of the Texas Rangers
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 