The Yankees, Ira and Grace
Years ago, a wise old journalist gave me this piece of advice: You can’t expect to hit a home run with every story. Sometimes, you’ve got to settle for a double or even a solid single.
With that in mind, I’m going to take a few swings and see what happens:
-- Swing one: I asked Mike Cope, an avid baseball fan, blogger and minister of the Highland Street church in Abilene, Texas, if a person can be both a Christian and a fan of the Evil Empire (a.k.a. the New York Yankees).
Here’s Cope’s response:
While everything in me says that it's impossible to be both a Christian and an Evil Empire fan, my theology of grace insists that it is.
For one thing, I, too, was deceived when I was young. I attended a Yankees/Cardinals World Series in 1964 and cheered for the Yankees. I lived in Missouri and would soon become a lifelong, die-hard Cardinal fan (not quite part of the Terry Rush lunatic fringe -- but a fan nevertheless), but at the time I had just turned eight and was devoted to Mickey Mantle.
And for another thing, I've spent a lot of time in prayer for Ira Hays, whose parents, Joe and Laura, recently planted a church in Brooklyn. I continue to hear that Ira, who's been battling for his life since he was born April 21, 2005, is a Yankees fan. So I've tried despising them less on Ira's account.Having said all that, I'm tired of the payroll that the country's largest city offers (fueled by its huge television market) buying them the best team money can get. Other teams have to do it by drafting, farm teams, and coaching.
What Mike doesn't realize is that our win against Cleveland on Wednesday night was due to our farm boys, Wang and Cano. In fact, we are relying heavily on our farm system at the moment as our big money makers are hurt. And guess what? We're still in first place! And are you trying to tell me Torre doesn't coach? That's heresy around these parts!
I can't wait for Ira to get drafted by the Yanks in 2025. Will all these folks still hate the Yankees then?
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posted by jch at
10:43 AM
8 Comments:
People often forget that New Yorkers are made up of a bunch of outsiders including Texans, et al - hey, New York is a microcosm of the US and of the world. Someone once told me that everyone has an overachieving, misfit cousin who lives in New York. I don't know if we're all overachieving, but misfit, probably.
Cope and friends can relax and get over it already. Big payrolls make for big headlines, but they don't necessarily make championship teams. Since the Yankees last won, there have been the White Sox, Red S-x, Marlins, D-Backs, and Angels.
And right now, arguably the best team in baseball is/are the M-E-T-S.
Sorry for the double post on this. We can't forget to mention that Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettite, among others, are all products of the farm.
Like Mike, I'll cheer for Ira - heck, even maybe for the whole team! But until that happens, Go Angels! And Washington Nationals (my nephew, Coby Mavroulis, is pitching for the Savannah Sand Gnats, a low A team in the Nationals farm system.)
Anne
I've decided that I don't hate the Yankees (a huge step for me), but since I'm not a true baseball fan, I'll always root for the underdog, which usually isn't the Yankees.
the yankees are living proof that you CAN'T buy a championship. Sure, maybe you can buy a playoff birth, but a championship takes a team with chemistry and heart.
Second of all, Torre coaches in the AL, which is really more of filling out a lineup card and sitting on his bum and watching the game. And I use the term "coach" loosely.
But yeah, when Ira gets drafted, I'm on the wagon.
I will still hate the Yankees, but love Ira. Something about loving the sinner and hating the sin?
I can't lay blame on an innocent child for being falsley indoctrinated by his parents. I pray often that his parents will acknowledge their sin and appropriately repent.
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