Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” meets readers at the intersection of faith and news. Click to join nearly 10,000 subscribers who get this column delivered straight to their inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
PHILADELPHIA — For me, heaven on earth is a ballpark.
I love God, my family and the Texas Rangers — mostly in that order.
I’m on a journey — a “Field of Dreams” pilgrimage, if you will — to experience all 30 current Major League Baseball stadiums.
I checked ballpark No. 23 — Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia — off my bucket list this past weekend.
My son Brady and 7-year-old grandson, Bennett, joined me in donning Rangers’ blue as we rubbed elbows with the Phillies’ faithful — 40,000 strong, clad in red and white — on a windy, 45-degree Saturday afternoon.
To our delight, the Rangers prevailed, 5-4, in extra innings. But the journey is about so much more than wins and losses. It’s deeper than enjoying a Dodger Dog in Los Angeles or a Fenway Frank in Boston, both of which I absolutely made it a point to do, by the way.
I can’t help but identify with the new documentary film “Baseball: Beyond Belief,” which “explores how baseball and faith intertwine in powerful and surprising ways.”
Based on the 2013 book “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game” by former New York University President John Sexton, it’s set to air nationally on Fox Sports 1 at 4 p.m. Eastern and 1 p.m. Pacific on Easter Sunday.
“I’ve tried ’em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball,” Susan Sarandon’s character in the 1988 movie “Bull Durham” declares in a clip played at the documentary’s opening.
This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 