Did you catch the sad interview on the news the other evening, when former Philadelphia Phillies baseball manager Dallas Green was asked about the death of his granddaughter in the recent Tucson shooting rampage?  The multiple deaths were, of course, tragic in and of themselves.  But the comments of this grandfather reveal an even deeper tragedy.  Asked how he was going to cope, Green said: “We hope we can all get through it … and get through it with the help of baseball.”

“Get through it with the help of baseball.”  As soon as I heard that comment, I had to stop and ask myself if I really heard what I thought I had? “Get through it with the help of baseball.”  It sounded so odd and out of place — and I almost instantly knew why: the man had put the word “baseball” in the place where another word belonged: “God”!  You would think a person might say, “We’ll get through this, with the help of God.”  But baseball?

Don’t get me wrong; I feel badly for Dallas Green, and for anyone who loses a loved one.  What happened in Arizona was a tragedy.  But I write this at the risk of being misunderstood to point out that Green’s comments are symptomatic of what is an even deeper tragedy nationwide: the fact that the living God has been replaced, for many people, by baseball and other sports. 

Again, don’t misunderstand me; I have followed sports almost all of my life, baseball and football especially.  I grew up cheeering for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and my hero was Roberto Clemente (“the great one — 21!”) who died when his plane, full of supplies for Nicaraguan earthquake victims, crashed on the way to the disaster site.  But for the last generation or so, we have seen sports begin to take the place of God in the lives of people nationwide.  What used to be “the Lord’s Day” is now given to sports programming — with or without one’s “token hour” of church attendance in the morning!  Bible reading in the morning has been replaced by the reading of the sports page.  And the passion that should be given to God Himself and to His kingdom’s work, is channeled into following one’s favorite team(s).  Adults are always pushing their kids to get involved in sports as a means of “saving” them from the problems of adolescence — often at the cost of involvement in the church.  Sundays and Wednesday nights, once “off-limits” for games and practices, are being taken over by the sports mania.  For many, baseball has become “Base-baal” (“Baal” was the name the false god many of the Israelites worshipped in the Old Testament) — a replacement for the true God of the Bible.

So, when we hear someone make a comment like, “we’ll get through it with the help of baseball”, I thnk we can see it as more than just a sad and misguided random personal statement.  It is symptomatic of what is happening all across our nation, as the true God is being replaced by a god of sports — be it Basebaal, or one of many others. 

What makes it truly sad is that no sport can provide what only the true God has to give us.  Dallas Green’s deepest needs are not going to be met by baseball.  Baseball has no power to heal the broken hearts of that family, or to guarantee that they can see that precious granddaughter again.  Only the true God can do that.  He is the One who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3)  He is the One who promises comfort in the midst of tragedy, and a home in heaven through faith in Jesus (John 14:1-6).  Baseball can’t do that.  No sport can.  This should be an occasion for many of us to take another look at the place we are giving sports in our personal lives and in our family priorities. 

Because in the end, Basebaal strikes out.