MLB Christmas

Hi. I'm going to divide the articles that I have into two posts so that they won't be too long. This post has just MLB Christmas articles. Every Christmas each MLB team interviews one player, coach, broadcaster, or front office person for a Q & A article about the holidays. Following are quotes from the seven articles that stood out from a Christian perspective:

Blue Jays coach Brian Butterfield:

MLB.com: As the head of the house, are you required to still believe in Santa?

Butterfield: No. We've never really put too much emphasis on Santa. We put it more on our Lord and Savior. We have a strong faith, so the great thing of it all is the celebration of Jesus' birthday. That's big under our roof. We always remind people that he's the reason for the season.

Here's that article: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071216&content_id=2327545&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor.

Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus:

MLB.com: What's your favorite Christmas song?

Niehaus: It's always been "Silent Night." In fact, a couple of years ago, Marilyn and I went to Germany and went to this little town in Austria called Obendorf. I remember from my childhood that my mother told me the man who wrote "Silent Night, Holy Night" was from Obendorf. Anyway, we were on a bus tour and came into the town of Obendorf. There were houses painted with children's stories and all of a sudden it started snowing. I mean it was just beautiful. The snowflakes looked more like snowballs falling on this little village in the Bavaria Alps.

Here's the article: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071215&content_id=2327345&vkey=news_sea&fext=.jsp&c_id=sea.

Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik:

MLB.com: Why will Christmas be special for you this year?

Bacsik: Our little girl, Mary Grace, who is almost 3 years old, has a pretty good idea about Christmas and Santa Claus. We are trying to teach her the religious part of it, too. She understands Santa Claus, which is neat for us. She will wake up Christmas morning and (realize that) Santa Claus came to our house.

Here's the article: http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071215&content_id=2327306&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was.

Orioles manager Dave Trembley:

MLB.com: What are your favorite things about the holiday season?

Trembley: Family. Good food. Reflection. Church. Where I grew up, there was a lot of snow at Christmastime. But I don't miss that at all. I like sunshine and 75 degrees on the beach. That's what I like now.

Here's the aritcle: http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071215&content_id=2327287&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal.

Padres pitcher Jake Peavy, a Christian:

MLB.com: You talk often about how important family is to you. How big a deal was Christmas growing up in the Peavy house?

Peavy: It was as big as it gets. I think down south, Christmas is much more than just the toys and stuff -- Christianity, the birth of Christ. I just think that a lot of that is bred into Christmas down south. It's a great holiday. There's lot of family involved, and now that we're doing it with my boys ... that makes it very special.

Here's the article: http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071215&content_id=2327311&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd.

Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd, a Christian:

MLB.com: Finally, what is Dan O'Dowd's Christmas wish?

O'Dowd: My Christmas wish is that everybody's dreams come true. I believe that dreams are really an essential part of life. I think they're God-given. I think they're created down deep within you. I hope everybody's dreams true, people that do believe.

And I pray for that for my kids every day. It's the greatest feeling in the world -- in this world, anyway.

Here's the article: http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071219&content_id=2333482&vkey=news_col&fext=.jsp&c_id=col.

The last of the MLB Christmas articles, Tigers pitcher Jason Grilli, a Christian:

MLB.com: Having grown up in a baseball family, how important has Christmas been in your family, when you know everybody can be together?

Jason Grilli: It's definitely huge. Holidays for us are huge especially when you're away from them so much throughout the year. For us, the holidays that we play [during] can be tough. Any holiday, I think, especially during the baseball season, whether it's a birthday or a wedding, those are the occasions that sometimes you miss out on, unless it's someone in your immediate family. So Christmas and Thanksgiving are very huge in the sense that it's a point to celebrate the holiday for what it is. I celebrate Christmas and we celebrate the birth of Jesus and what his sacrifice means to us and we celebrate being together.

Here's the article: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071218&content_id=2330412&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det.

sports misc.

First, an article about Georgia head football coach Mark Richt and his family's recent mission trip to Honduras: http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/06/27/0628richt.html.

Here's an interesting story about how baseball trades effect the players involved and their families, and their former teammates/friends. The article uses the recent Cubs/Padres trade where Michael Barrett (a Christian) was traded to the Padres and Rob Bowen was traded to the Cubs as an example: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070628&content_id=2054177&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb.

Next, an article about a fan who actually returned Blue Jays designated hitter Frank Thomas' 500th home run ball, which he hit last Thursday at Minnesota. Personally, I think that it's great and I would do the same thing if I caught a significant home run ball too. I would just want to meet the player and get his autograph too. Here's the article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070628&content_id=2054521&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor.

Here's an article about the charity putt-putt fundraiser that Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek (a Christian) held on Thursday. Several Red Sox (Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Timlin [a Christian], Javy Lopez, Eric Hinske, Alex Cora, and Doug Mirabelli) and current/former NHL players (Raymond Bourque, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, and former players Scott Young and Bob Sweeney) also took part. Here's the article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070628&content_id=2055246&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos&partnered=rss_bos.

Also, an article about a celebrity flag football game that Colts defensive lineman Gary Brackett (a Christian) is hosting as a fundraiser for his IMPACT Foundation (http://garybrackett.org/): http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070630/SPORTS/706300444/1247/SPORTS.

Here's a press release about NC State women's head basketball coach Kay Yow (a Christian) being named the first recipient of the new Jimmy V ESPY for Perseverance for her battle with cancer: http://espnmediazone.com/press_releases/2007_06_jun/20070628_JimmyVESPYforPerseverance.htm.

Here's some more Christian athletes' websites that I've found:

Lorena Ochoa, LPGA golfer: http://www.lorenaochoa.com/
LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers runningback: http://www.ladainiantomlinson.com/
Kyle Korver, 76ers forward: http://www.kylekorver.com/
Samkon Gado, Texans runningback: http://samkongado.com/

Lastly, Colts head coach Tony Dungy's book Quite Strength is coming out July 10th. I can't wait to get it and read it!

MLB--Mother's Day, etc.

First, an article about the Major-League debut of Andy LaRoche with the Dodgers last Sunday. He is the younger brother of Pirates 1st baseman Adam LaRoche, and Andy's debut came against Adam's old team, the Braves. The Braves traded Adam to the Pirates last winter. Here's a neat note about Andy's first ML hit, where Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur (a Christian), one of his brother's former teammates, helped take care of things for him:

When the ball La Roche struck for his first big league hit took a high bounce into the first row of the right-field stands, outfielder Jeff Francoeur, aware of its significance, ran to the fence and asked the fan to throw it back.

Here's the article: http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-dodrep7may07,1,3488704.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger (originally found at: http://mlb.mlb.com/pa/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070507&content_id=1950883&vkey=mlbpa_news&fext=.jsp).

Here's another note about Cubs catcher Michael Barrett, a Christian, helping to raise money for his teammate Derrek Lee's foundation to raise money to help fight the eye disease that Lee's daughter has:

Good cause: Michael Barrett raised $12,000 for teammate Derrek Lee's Project 3000 during a silent auction Sunday at Gino's East restaurant. The top items sold were a "W" flag signed by the Cubs players, and four field passes.

"We had a lot of support from a lot of people," Barrett said.

That included a $300 donation from a youngster who set up a blog and promised $1 for every hit he got.

"I was so encouraged, I want to do another [fundraiser]," Barrett said.

Project 3000 is raising money to fight Lebers Congenital Amaurosis, a rare genetic eye disease, which has caused partial blindness in Lee's 4-year-old daughter, Jada.

Here's the article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1952977&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc&partnered=rss_chc.

Next, the annual MLB Mother's Day page, which includes some articles, articles about each team and the pink bats that many players will be using tomorrow, and postcards from a player on each team for their mom or wife. I'll add some specific things to check out too. Of note about the pink bats, at least the Rangers, Rockies, and Mariners bought two pink bats for each of their position players to use, leaving it up to each player to use them or not. Here's the page: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/mothersday/index_07.jsp.

Here's a quote from Stephen Drew, a Christian, in the Diamondbacks' pink bat article about his using a pink bat to honor a friend who died from breast cancer:

Drew, a deeply spiritual man, said that his friend's ordeal served as a reminder of how fragile life can be and what an insidious disease cancer is.

"You never know when life could end," he said. "You think you have all your life to live, but only God knows when you're ready. It's a touchy situation I guess you could say. We're talking about somebody's life. To swing the pink bat, I just look at it as a way to honor those who have gone through it, have fought through it. It's my way of paying tribute and acknowledging it."

Here's the article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1953554&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari.

Here's a quote from Alex Rios in the Blue Jays article:

Jays right fielder Alex Rios is another member of the Jays who is excited to take the field on Sunday in honor of his mother.

"I thank god for the way my mom raised me," Rios said. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her support. [Sunday] will give me a chance to show that on the field."

Here's the article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1953950&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor.

Here's the last Mother's Day article for now, a quote from Eric Hinske in the Red Sox article about teammates Jon Lester and Mike Lowell overcoming cancer:

"I think it's helped us come together as a team," Hinske said. "We don't usually talk about it. It's not something you can talk about all the time. [Lester and Lowell] are always in our prayers and we'll be thinking about both of them on Sunday."

Here's the article: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070508&content_id=1953812&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos.

Lastly, a note about Georgia football head coach Mark Richt and Auburn football head coach Tommy Tuberville, who are both Christians, being friends and playing golf together. I guess the Georgia and Auburn don't like each other much though. Here's the article: http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/05/11/0513ugabuzz.html.