⚾️ Reporting On Baseball And Faith: A Religion Writer Combines Two Loves 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” meets readers at the intersection of faith and news. Click to join nearly 10,000 subscribers who get this column delivered straight to their inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr.
DETROIT — Cecil Cooper. Bobby Murcer. Rod Carew. Frank Tanana.
As a boy growing up in the 1970s, I scoured the stats on the backs of their baseball cards.
Little did I know that I’d grow up to be a journalist and get to talk to them about their lives and careers — and yes, their faith.
I met Cooper at Houston’s ballpark during his time as the Astros’ bench coach in 2005. I later caught up with him again after he served as the team’s manager.
Bobby Ross Jr. interviews Cecil Cooper at the Houston Astros’ ballpark in 2005. (Photo by David Duncan)
I sat down with Murcer in his home state of Oklahoma in 2007 as he battled brain cancer. He succumbed to the disease the next year.
I connected with Carew, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, on the telephone in 2020 in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discussed his then-new memoir, “One-Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs.”
For my latest story on my favorite sport, I explored the Christian journey of Tanana, who from 1973 to 1993 pitched for the California Angels, the Boston Red Sox, the Texas Rangers, the Detroit Tigers, the New York Mets and the New York Yankees.
Tanana provided the lede for my Religion Unplugged feature on Home Plate Detroit, an annual Christian outreach at Comerica Park:
DETROIT — The preacher made his pitch like a pro.
Frank Tanana held a Bible in his left hand — the one he used to strike out 2,773 batters in a 21-season major league career — as he urged a pregame crowd of 3,074 fans to follow Jesus.
“I beg of you, today is the day of salvation,” Tanana told the throng clad in navy, orange and white Detroit Tigers attire. “If you don’t know Christ, won’t you give your life to Christ?”
On a recent 78-degree Saturday afternoon, a U.S. flag and the Tigers’ four World Series championship banners — from 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984 — flapped in the Comerica Park breeze.
Butterflies fluttered amid the spectators gathered along the first-base line during an annual Christian outreach called Home Plate Detroit. A blue sky dotted with cottony white clouds framed the downtown skyline just beyond the outfield bleachers.
Tanana’s ballpark sermon capped an hour-long special program led by Tigers chaplain Jeff Totten and featuring testimonials by outfielder Kerry Carpenter, pitcher Tyler Holton, infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry, shortstop Trey Sweeney and pitcher Will Vest.
A friend in Michigan shared details with me about Home Plate Detroit several months ago. He thought I might want to pursue a story on it, especially since the Rangers, my favorite team, were playing the Tigers that weekend.
Fans pray during Home Plate Detroit, an annual Christian outreach event at Comerica Park. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
My friend was 100% correct, and I was excited when Clemente Lisi, Religion Unplugged’s executive editor, approved my pitch (no pun intended).
The Home Plate Detroit story — published Wednesday — builds on a previous piece I did for Religion Unplugged: In 2023, I traveled to Petco Park in San Diego and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to report on why a majority of MLB teams host faith nights.
Ironically, I was in Los Angeles again before going to Detroit, so I flew 2,000 miles across the country for the Rangers-Tigers series. I made it to Comerica Park just in time for the Friday night game and saw my team win two out of three that weekend. (Sorry, Tigers’ fans! But your team boasts the best record of all 30 MLB teams so far this season, so you can’t complain too much.)
Bobby Ross Jr. at Dodger Stadium in 2023 while reporting on MLB faith days. (Photo provided by Bobby Ross Jr.)
My baseball travels — some personal, some professional — have taken me to 22 of the current MLB stadiums.
I first visited Comerica Park in 2015 and wrote:
The tiger statues out front, the postcard-perfect downtown skyline beyond the outfield walls, the raucous fans totally committed to (and occasionally, totally frustrated with) the hometown heroes with the Old English “D” on their caps — all of these things add to the ambience of this 15-year-old baseball shrine.
On that trip, I interviewed Daniel Norris, then a top Detroit pitching prospect, about why he was baptized in his baseball uniform as a high school player. I remember that Justin Verlander, who by that time was a six-time All-Star who had won the 2011 American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, sat nearby in the Tigers’ clubhouse.
Two seasons earlier — in 2013 — I arranged to talk to reliever Rex Brothers when the Colorado Rockies were in Los Angeles. When I couldn't find Brothers immediately, I sat down on a couch in the visitors’ clubhouse — inadvertently violating protocol.
The couch was for players, not reporters. Todd Helton — a Rockies slugger inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last year — let me know about it. I apologized, stood up and waited a little longer. Eventually, Helton went and found Brothers for me.
Other baseball stories I’ve done:
• A 2017 piece on how faith helped Rangers third-base coach Tony Beasley beat cancer.
• A 2018 piece on major league pitcher Michael Fulmer — a high school friend of my son Brady — working as a plumber in the offseason and relying on Jesus to keep him grounded.
Bobby Ross Jr. interviews pitcher Michael Fulmer at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, in 2018. (Photo by Ron Hadfield)
• And a 2020 piece on the post-baseball ministry life of longtime pitcher Lindy McDaniel. Sadly, McDaniel died from complications related to COVID-19 not long after our conversation.
My most memorable ballpark reporting experience came in 2010 when I interviewed slugger Josh Willingham at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
While Willingham and I talked in an indoor batting cage, Hall of Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez took swings nearby. Rodriguez played his final seasons with the Nationals but spent most of his career with my Rangers.
I mentioned to Willingham that Rodriguez was one of my all-time favorite players. To my surprise, Willingham introduced me to Rodriquez, who couldn’t have been any nicer.
Willingham, by the way, is the real deal as far as his faith. Now retired from baseball, he’s still making a big difference.
Bobby Ross Jr. at Comerica Park on a recent Saturday afternoon to cover Home Plate Detroit. (Photo by Mark Arnold)
Man, I love baseball.
And I love reporting on faith.
Combining the two? I’ll call that a home run.
Inside The Godbeat
In case you missed it, veteran religion writer Julia Duin traveled to Greenland and did a really interesting piece for Religion Unplugged on how President Donald Trump’s obsession with the island overlooks a spiritual iceberg.
Another story that I enjoyed this week: Associated Press religion writer Peter Smith’s feature from Kentucky on Ken Ham spreading creationism — “with a massive ark and museum” — a century after the Scopes trial.
Finally, I agree with the person on X who shared Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood’s “inspiring story of an Arkansas family that helped save and educate Syrian children in the midst of War.” It’s definitely, as Mouaz Moustafa described it, a “very moving article about Faith and Love.”
The Final Plug
According to a front-page A-hed story in the Wall Street Journal, a tiny Christian college “wanted to be great at ultimate Frisbee — and made everyone mad.”
What’s that old saying about any publicity being good publicity? I guess this quirky feature about my beloved alma mater, Oklahoma Christian University, qualifies.
“Haven’t read the full story yet but comparing OC to Russian oligarchs is kind of hilarious,” my daughter-in-law Paige quipped on the family group text.
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.