A Pitch To Follow Jesus: Baseball Fans Embrace Players’ Faith Testimonials
Fans pray during Home Plate Detroit, an annual Christian outreach event at Comerica Park. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
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.
Retired major league pitcher Frank Tanana preaches during Home Plate Detroit, an annual Christian outreach event at Comerica Park. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
In Game 2 of the American League Division Series last year, Carpenter smashed a three-run, game-winning homer off Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase. In a national TV interview after his clutch, ninth-inning hit, Carpenter’s first words were: “I just received a whole lot of God’s grace right there. That’s about it.”
At Home Plate Detroit, the 27-year-old slugger reflected on picking “This Is My Song” by North Point Worship to play before he bats.
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The relevant lyrics go like this:
This is my story / This is my song / Praising my Savior / All the day long
“My reasoning is, if I go 0-for-4 and don’t help the team win, then at least people get to hear the gospel four times,” Carpenter said of his walk-up song.
The faith-friendly crowd whooped and cheered in response.
Tigers infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry, wearing a “Jesus Won” T-shirt, speaks at Home Plate Detroit as his teammate Kerry Carpenter listens. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
By the way, Carpenter wouldn’t go hitless on this May night. He singled, tripled and homered in the Tigers’ 10-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, which snapped a five-game winning streak by Detroit. A sellout crowd of 40,844 watched the game.
At the pregame event, Totten — the Tigers’ chaplain since 1991 — invited Vest to tell fans how he has seen God work among his teammates, who overcame 500-to-1 odds to reach the MLB playoffs last season and boast the best record of all 30 teams so far this year.
“It’s been incredible,” replied Vest, who recalled only two players attending Detroit’s Baseball Chapel Sunday services in 2022.
“Fast-forward to 2025: We’ll have upwards of 15 to 18 guys in there,” the right-handed reliever said to applause. “It’s awesome to see.”
Tyler Holton, right, shares his faith at Home Plate Detroit, joined by fellow pitcher Will Vest, left, wearing a “Jesus Won” T-shirt. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
‘I like to hear their testimonies’
For a majority of MLB’s 30 franchises, faith days have become a popular annual themed event — a marketing strategy to boost ticket sales, as Religion Unplugged has reported.
Here in the Motor City and elsewhere, these ballpark rallies typically mix talks by players with prayer and praise music.
Fans gather with like-minded believers, hear athletic heroes discuss their personal journeys and enjoy a major league game.
Elizabeth Gurecki, left, arrives at Home Plate Detroit with her twin sister, Laura Mann. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
“It’s kind of neat that so many Christians can come to one space,” said Elizabeth Gurecki, 36, a Lutheran who attended Home Plate Detroit with her twin sister, Laura Mann, who wore a white Miguel Cabrera jersey.
Seven carloads of fans from the Davison Missionary Church, about 65 miles northwest of Detroit, joined nearly 250 groups from Michigan, Ohio and the Canadian province of Ontario at the game.
“I mean, these famous ballplayers you see on TV — it’s great hearing how they’re regular people just like us,” said Nick Berghorst, 38, who came from Davison with his 12-year-old daughter, Cambria. “They struggle. They have doubts … yet they get through whatever’s thrown at them.”
Mark Arnold, Sherry Arnold, Cambria Berghorst and Nick Berghorst join other members of their Davison, Michigan, church at Home Plate Detroit. Mark Arnold is originally from Texas, home of the Rangers, the Tigers’ opponent that day. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
Sharon Dunbar, 65, a member of the Richfield Church of the Nazarene in Otisville, Michigan, grew up in a one-television household.
“My dad had control of the TV,” she said with a laugh, “and if you didn’t like watching the Pistons or the Red Wings or the Tigers, you weren’t watching nothing else.”
Dunbar fell in love with the Tigers.
The retired Flint, Michigan, police officer buys a ticket to Home Plate Detroit most every year.
“I like to hear their testimonies,” she said of the players. “It just makes me feel good inside. … Even when I see them on TV, I remember what they say, and it brings me a smile.”
Athletes’ faith talk gains momentum
A majority of American sports fans — 56% — support athletes using their platforms to talk about their religious faith or other spiritual issues, according to a 2025 Sports Spectrum survey.
A third of those polled — 33% — are neutral on the question, while 12% are unsupportive, the survey found.
Communications firm Pinkston queried 1,540 religious and non-religious U.S. adults who watch sports at least a few times a month. Sports Spectrum, the media company that hired Pinkston, focuses on the intersection of sports and faith.
READ: Faith And Baseball: Why These Fans Feel A Special Connection To MLB Teams
“I think there’s a desire among evangelical Christian communities to see their faith represented in the public square,” said Paul Putz, director of Baylor University’s Faith & Sports Institute.
“It’s not unlike other faith traditions — there’s a sense of community pride if you see one of your own out there,” he added. “For example, if you’re a part of a Muslim community, and there’s a famous Muslim athlete, you’re going to be connected to that athlete and probably going to cheer them on. … And it’s similar for Jewish athletes and Catholic athletes.”
Hours before a Saturday night Detroit Tigers game against the Texas Rangers, fan line up for an afternoon Christian outreach event called Home Plate Detroit. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
While athletes proclaiming their faith publicly is not new, the momentum to do so has grown, Putz said.
A trend toward player-driven media and empowerment lets athletes speak directly to the public — without needing to go through a traditional gatekeeper, the expert said.
“There’s a feeling that athletes are these public brands,” he said. “They’re encouraged to represent identities that matter to them, causes that matter to them, and they’re able to shape the narrative.”
READ: New Biography Gives Insight Into Star Pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s Faith
Through an event such as Home Plate Detroit, players can expound on their faith beyond the quick sound bites expressed in postgame interviews.
“Here is a way,” Putz said, “for them to talk more deeply about their faith and the things that matter to them and give meaning to their lives.”
A special scoreboard message welcomes fans to Home Plate Detroit at Comerica Park. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
Mission of Home Plate Detroit
Home Plate Detroit traces its roots back to 1987 when Totten, a pastor who grew up in Motown, invited Tanana, then a Tigers pitcher, to share his faith at a breakfast attended by 1,000 young people.
Totten, 67, became a Christian as a teen.
He attended his first Tigers game in 1968 and saw Willie Horton — an All-Star who finished fourth in the American League Most Valuable Player voting that season — play. Detroit won the World Series that year.
Horton, now 82, became a Christian in 2003 at age 60.
“It’s pretty cool to have rooted for Willie as a kid and now have him speak at some of our events,” Totten, who leads a nonprofit called Score Ministries, told Religion Unplugged.
Tigers chaplain Jeff Totten welcomes fans to Home Plate Detroit at Comerica Park. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
Home Plate Detroit started in a banquet hall but grew and later moved to Tiger Stadium — and after it opened in 2000 — Comerica Park. At its high point, attendance topped 9,000 three years in a row in the mid-1990s. Rising ticket prices have hurt the numbers in recent years, according to Totten.
For Totten, the goal remains the same: To lead souls to Christ.
Organizers encourage each Christian to bring a non-Christian friend to the game.
READ: Hall Of Famer Rod Carew Talks Faith And Baseball
And each year, hundreds fill out a yellow card indicating that they prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior or prayed to renew their dedication to serve him.
“God knows the heart,” Totten said. “It’s not based on what you check on a card. But it does give us a little feel.”
Besides the response form, this year’s attendees got special baseball cards with pictures of the Tigers players who spoke on the front and their first-person faith stories on the back.
Home Plate Detroit attendees receive a packet with a yellow response card, player testimonial cards and a gospel tract. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
“Up until I was 27-years old, I approached life with a SELF-SERVING attitude,” wrote McKinstry, now 30. “I did all the things that made me feel good without caring how it affected others. I shut out people, even family, from my life. I kept my thoughts and feelings bottled up in my heart.
“In 2022, having been in the major league for parts of 3 seasons, my life looked good on the outside,” he added. “However, I was BREAKING on the inside. Within a matter of months, I was traded, some relationships ended, and friendships changed. I had no one I could trust and no longer found satisfaction in just pleasing myself. I was at an all-time low. During that off season, I learned that I could trust Jesus to accept me as a sinner, forgive my sin, and change me into the person he wants me to be.”
Christian singer Trey Simon performs at Home Plate Detroit as Tigers players listen. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
‘Be my Savior’
For four decades, Tanana — now a 71-year-old church elder and grandfather — has embraced Home Plate Detroit as an opportunity to share the hope he received midway through his career.
On the pitching mound, the lefty starter formed a dynamic duo with Hall of Fame righties Nolan Ryan with the California Angels in the 1970s and Jack Morris with the Tigers in the 1980s.
But for a long time, his life off the field was a mess.
“Pleasure was my god. Sports was my god,” he said of his life before accepting Christ on Nov. 6, 1983. “Drinking. Women. Partying. Those kinds of things.”
Why tell his story — the bad and the good — in such a public forum?
“Getting genuinely converted through the power of the Holy Spirit, I wanted others to experience the same thing,” he told Religion Unplugged. “I wanted others to … understand that the Bible is the word of God and that Jesus is their only hope.”
Retired pitcher Frank Tanana prays as he invited Home Plate Detroit attendees to commit their lives to Jesus. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
As Tanana finished his Home Plate Detroit message, he asked the crowd to bow in prayer.
He then offered words to God on behalf of those wanting to accept Jesus:
“Lord, thank you for today. Thank you that I was able to hear the word of God. I admit before you, God, that I’m a sinner. I know that because of that sin, I’m dead spiritually, and if I die in this condition, I will go to hell and pay the punishment for my sins for all eternity.
“But I’m so glad, Jesus, that I’ve heard of your love. I’ve heard of your amazing gift. … I ask you now, by your Spirit, to come into my life. Be my Savior. Be my Lord. And I will follow you all the days of my life.”
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.