It’s July 4th, but are you free?
July 4, 2008 – 6:39 am Posted by jim in » Christianity, MLB, reviews
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One day I answered a call on my cell phone, and the voice asked, “Is this the Jim Palmer who wrote Divine Nobodies?” Instantly I knew who it was because I was familiar with his distinct voice as an NBA fan. Ernie Johnson Jr. hosts the NBA broadcast for TNT with Charles Barkley, and I would know that voice anywhere. Ernie called because he had read Divine Nobodies, and wanted to chat about it. In the conversation I learned that he discovered the book by seeing it in Paul Byrd’s (Cleveland Indians pitcher) locker during an interview.
Eventually this lead to my meeting Paul Byrd, and we have been friends ever since. Paul is in the Nashville area a couple times a year, and I’m in his neck of the woods every now and then, and so it has given us opportunity to share with each other about our journeys with God. Ernie and Paul endorsed Wide Open Spaces, and I read and endorsed Free Byrd: The Power of a Liberated Life. John Smoltz wrote the Foreward, and the book is Paul’s story of finding freedom in Christ beyond the legalisms and boxes of “religious” Christianity. If you are a true baseball fan, you won’t be disappointed; there is some awesome baseball stuff.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Once upon a Monday night in August, I accidentally got to pitch in the big leagues. I buttoned up a red pin-striped jersey and threw a baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies. I was playing for the Braves Triple-A team at the time, and the Phillies purchased my contract off the waiver wire. I was supposed to be sent to Philadelphia’s Triple-A team, but some crazy rule in the wavier process forced Ed Wade, the Phillies’ general manager, to send me to the major leagues for at least a day. Because the Atlanta Braves minor league system had seen enough of my act the previous two years, they peacefully let me go with a handshake.
I will never forget that call.
After a few days of hanging out in limbo and holding hands with my overly calm wife in our cozy Richmond, Virginia, apartment, Mr. Wade called and said, “One of our pitchers got hurt yesterday. Congratulations, you’re going to the big leagues.” Then he chuckled and followed with, “You’re going to get one start on Monday night against the Houston Astros and Randy Johnson. After that we have no idea what’s going to happen.”
I was in shock. My wife, Kym, was in shock. And as my two toddling boys, Grayson and Colby, pulled at my blue-jeaned pant legs, I realized that I had just gotten called up to the big leagues by some cosmic mishap — and in three days I was going to have a gun-slinging showdown with one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Confusion, joy, fear, thankfulness, anxiety, and all sorts of other claustrophobic emotional nouns seemed to take turns licking my brain senseless. Part of me wanted to compete and immediately grab a ball and hit the catcher’s mitt to take down Randy Johnson and the Astros — and the other side of me wondered if this is what a man on death row feels like days before he’s going to be executed.”
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Hey everyone, welcome to July! The first day of July is important for a few reasons:
In order to thank you, dear readers, for your support of Prayers For Blowouts, we reward those of you who reach the 50-comment plateau with a chance to take the PFB Sports Survey.
Tiger’s leg had an ouchy. Tiger played anyway…and he won. Then Tiger got more surgery. Now he won’t play until 2009.
The PFB Sports Survey is a weekly feature here at Prayers For Blowouts where we throw a few sports related questions at some of the most notable voices among Christian authors, pastors, musicians, and zoologists to see if they like sports as much as we do.
Did you catch who said “I’m going to Disneyland!” after the Celtics beat the Lakers in Game 6 the other night?
