Mike King

Sweeney heading to the playoffs

I was exchanging texts with Mike Sweeney this morning at The Filling Station when ESPN highlights of an interview with Mike popped on the coffee shop TV.  I texted him to congratulate him for making the playoffs with the Philadelphia Phillies.  Mike, a five-time All Star, played most of his career with the Kansas City Royals.  Mike became a friend and supporter of Youthfront.  Mike loves youth ministry so we had a lot in common.  After 14 seasons in the Major Leagues, Sweeney is finally going to the playoffs.  I'm so happy for him.  Mike is one of the nicest human beings to ever play MLB.  Tonight the SF Giants are going to reduce their magic number to 3.  I'd love to see the Giants and the Phillies slug it out for the National League Title.  I will root for Sweeney but I will be pulling for Affeldt and the Giants to win it.  Here is a picture of Roy Halliday, Mike Sweeney, Brian Schneider and Ben Francisco celebrating after clinching the National League east title last night. 

Baseball...

Every year during this time I carry my baseball glove and a baseball with me in my car for several reasons.  The biggest reason I carry it is to remember the significant role baseball has played in my life.  I grew up playing baseball.  Every summer day was a day full of neighborhood baseball games.  We even kept our statistics – hits and homeruns mostly.  I waited for my dad to get home to play catch, he hated it when I would show boat my throwing style and launch it over his head.  He was also my coach in little league.  Nothing was worse than the threat of rain.  Rainouts were dreaded.  I had my rituals, stuffing up to two full sticks of bazooka bubble gum in my mouth.  When I say "two sticks" I’m talking about the giant tootsie roll shaped size that bazooka used to come in.  My glove was a prized possession, I even slept with it at times.  I carry my glove during this time of the year to pick it up and remember all it represents.  There are very few smells as appealing to me than a leather baseball glove.  I remember watching the movie For Love of the Game starring Kevin Costner with my wife the day it opened in 1999.  There’s a scene where Costner picks up a glove, with his eyes glued on it, he pounds his fist in the glove two times and paused.  I whispered spontaneously to my wife, “he’s going to smell his glove.”  On cue Costner buried his face in his glove and inhaled deeply.  Vicki just stared at me with a “what is that about” look.  I carry my glove around because there might be an opportunity to play catch with someone I love which I did on Easter Sunday with my daughter Jessica (who throws like a girl), my son Daniel, and my granddaughter Lexi.  Ahhhh, baseball, I love this time of year.

 

I watched my Royals yesterday play a great opening day game until American League Cy Young winner Zack Grienke came out of the game only to have his win ruined by the bullpen pitching.  I watched my other team, the Giants on ESPN, dominate the Astro's, hoping my friend Jeremy Affeldt would come it to pitch but at the same time encouraged that he might not need to because of how dominate National League Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum was.  Baseball is back.  We have really good seats for Friday night's game when the Red Sox come to town.  It's going to be a great week.  

 

All of this was meant to be a little intro to the article by Eric Miller featured in Books and Culture called The Republic of Baseball: Just a Business?  The article begins with some remincising about the romance of baseball and it got me all distracted with a time of remembering my story of baseball.  Anyway, here are a couple of excerpts;

  

“'There are those, writes Charles Fountain, 'who see baseball as succor to the soul, a spirit that binds eras and generations.' To say the least.

 

In early 20th-century Puerto Rico, 'baseball was what fisherman thought about when they cast their lines and farmers when they harvested sugar cane,' writes Larry Tye in his biography of Satchel Paige. Richard Peterson remembers true love in rough and dirty midcentury Pittsburgh:

My buddies and I played baseball every day, beginning in the cold, soggy spring, through the dog days of summer, until the chilly fall rains turned our fields of dreams into mud. With neighborhood rivalries and individual pride at stake, we played a punishing, reckless brand of baseball that often went beyond a love of the game itself…  I lived for those games and couldn't imagine what I would do with my life if I didn't play some day for the Pirates."

 

The article concludes with this great paragraph,

“All fans know that three words, whether spoken by villains or saints, kill the spirit of whatever sport of which they're said: It's a business. Baseball is not a business, any more than is marriage, or teaching first grade, or playing four-square. If we want to raise boys and girls who will come, like the aging Satchel Paige, to preach "the sanctity of the double steal and the blessedness of the bunt," we will find ways to preserve and protect this treasure. And chances are, if our children learn to feel the sanctity of the double steal, they'll come to know other realms of sanctity, too—and perhaps gain the courage to construct ways of guarding them.”

Read the whole article here.

Jeremy Affeldt is so much more than Baseball's best Relief Pitcher...

My friend Jeremy Affeldt was interviewed about his nomination for the Jefferson Award, his amazing season last year with the Giants and his passion for Youth Ministry and Justice work.  I am so proud of the way Jeremy and Larisa represent Christ in such a compelling way.  Here is the first part of the article.

Jeremy Affeldt, relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, had an outstanding 2009 season, posting a miniscule 1.73 ERA, holding batters to a .197 average, and maintaining a 28-inning scoreless streak from May 8 to July 24.  His role in the Giants' unanticipated bid for the National League Wild Card earned him a nomination for the league's MVP award, and fans voted him This Year in Baseball's "Setup Man of the Year."  Affeldt was, by any reckoning, major league baseball's best relief pitcher in 2009.

Affeldt's dazzling success on the mound was matched by the nomination he received for the prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service.  Nominated for his work with the anti-slavery Not For Sale Campaign, Affeldt also donates much of his time and energy to the Christian charities Feed the Hunger and Living Waters International, and probably some other charities too.  Affeldt isn't one to talk about himself.  But give him the opportunity to talk about young people or about Jesus, and the floodgates open.  We sat down at the start of spring training to discuss faith and philanthropy.

I'd like to begin by asking, how did you get involved with the Not For Sale Campaign?

Well, that was kind of interesting.  I was talking with Mike King, who runs a youth ministry in Kansas City called Youthfront, and through that the Feed the Hunger campaign.  We send food to Africa, and we've been sending it to Haiti recently.  Young people help out.  They package the meals, and it's about 20 cents a meal, so they raise money too.  It's youth-oriented, helping young people to be aware of global poverty issues. 

That has been my heart's pride, that young people, especially this new generation of people 14 or 15 years old to about 26, are really coming to understand a little bit more about global poverty and slavery.  So we do a lot of stuff with young people in that area. 

I told Mike I'd read an article about human trafficking.  I didn't really realize it was that big of an issue.  I knew a bit about the prostitution stuff, but probably a lot of people think prostitution is a voluntary act, you know?  And so, I was oblivious to some of it, and he suggested I get together with a guy named Dave Batstone and his group Not for Sale, a phenomenal group that just started out but was already really advanced.  And so I Googled it that night. 

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

What a powerful commentary on integrity and life

I really like political cartoons.  This isn't a political cartoon so I call it a LIFE cartoon.  It was on Scot McKnight's (who has a FANactical baseball passion) blog and it makes such a powerful statement on integrity and life.

Big 12 Championship Game

I had four tickets to the Big 12 Championship Football Game at Arrowhead last night.  I was hoping for another scenario like last year so that I could sell my tickets and make a little profit but such was not in the cards for 2008.  It was a festive environment and fun to watch the Schooners in their warm-up before they win the National Championship next month.  I had good company with Erik Leafblad, Jim Newberry and Jim's brother-in-law.  Dang it was cold.  By halftime the game was beyond any chance for Mizzou to mount a comeback so we retreated to the warmth of the nearby neighborhood Applebees for drink, food and the end of the game. 

This is what a picture looks like (way to much head room) when taken by a random MU fan who already had way too much to drink before the game.

You've got to love this...

 

Royals are generating some fireworks

The Royals hot off of a five win, one loss road trip (including a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals) have come home this weekend to win two of three games over the San Francisco Giants.  Friday night, they delighted the capacity crowd with what was billed as one of the largest fireworks displays in Kansas City history.  Vicki and I watched from the same location that my dad and I used to visit frequently during 1969 - 1972 to watch the progress of this marvelous sports complex.  It is great to see the stadium full.  We are only a couple years away from returning to the status of a playoff team.  That's when the real fireworks will begin.

National Championship

Last night was a great night.  We worked late at the office and got to 810 Sports Zone too late to get a table for the National Championship Game.  So we checked out a couple other places before settling in at Jack Stack's on the Plaza.  Vicki and I were joined by Chris Folmsbee, Aaron and Paige Mitchum and Nick Pickrell along with around twenty others who enjoyed the worlds greatest BBQ while watching KU work their magic.  Carl Peterson and his wife were part of the twenty.  Nick was pretty psyched about that because he is a major Chiefs fan and he happened to be wearing a Chiefs shirt.  Anyway, we ate and yelled way too much while experiencing one of the greatest National Championship games ever.  It has been twenty years since Danny Manning last brought us a National Championship.  I would be happy if Carl could make sure that we duplicated this feat by winning us the Super Bowl in 2009 (40 years after our last Super Bowl victory).  I know, fat chance but there was some miracles happening in the last three minutes of last nights game.  Carl was taking notes... who knows.  Oops, it is time to go and watch the Royals Home Opener with the boys...

 

GO JAYHAWKS

Still in 1st place

The Kansas City Royals are still in 1st place.  Wow, for three days I've been able to kind of identify with the joy that being a Red Sox or Yankee's fan must be like.  Come on boys, let's keep it going.  Please.  It happens in the movies.