Faith and Baseball

While watching a recent episode of the CBS show 60 minutes, they had a report on the Cardinals Albert Pujols. The report was very insightful on the charity work the the Pujols 5 foundation does in the Dominican Republic where Albert was born and lived for his childhood days. It also talked about the daughter that Albert's wife had before they were married that has Down Syndrome. Albert says that she is his daughter. The financial support that he gives to support Down Syndrome and his native country are just amazing. What makes this story so great is that he says that it is the work that he was given to do by God.

I have heard Albert talk about his faith in interviews and also in person at one of the Cardinals Christian Family Day at Busch Stadium. But one of my favorite stories I have heard was a few years ago at the Cardinals Winter Warm Up in St. Louis. I was wearing a Cardinals Pujols jersey with a t-shirt underneath that has Jesus hand nailed to a cross and says that body piercings saved my life. The lady that was working the table at the Pujols 5 family foundation booth noticed my shirt and we struck up a conversation. This was the year after Albert won one of his MVP awards. The lady told me that one of the greatest thrills for Albert that year was not winning an MVP award, but it was helping lead 3 of his teammates to Christ.

That was one of the greatest stories I have ever heard from one of the greatest baseball players of all time. So with all of the talk this season of Albert being greedy and just wanting the money, remember that he is only human. But he is a human that loves his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.