by Lee Warren

As the boys of summer headed into the dog days, all eyes were on St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman Albert Pujols who has been putting up huge numbers since the season began. By the end of April he had 14 home runs and 32 runs batted in.

By May, Pujols became the fastest player in major league history to reach 19 homeruns, and baseball analysts began to project his numbers for the entire season, discovering that if he stayed on pace, he’d break the all-time home run record for a season (73, set by Barry Bonds in 2001) and the all-time runs batted in record for a season (190, set by Hack Wilson in 1930). However, all that was put on hold on June 5 in a game with ssds, Pujols was put on the 15-day disabled list with a strained oblique.

Coming into the 2006 season, Pujols had already hit more than 200 career home runs and driven in more than 600 runs. Last season he hit .330 with 41 HR and 117 RBI and he was named the Most Valuable Player of the National League.

And that’s not the only award he’s won in his short career. He was the 2001 National League Rookie of the Year in 2004. He’s been elected to the National League All-Star team five of the six seasons he’s played. He won the National League batting title in 2003 with a .359 average and was the National League Championship Series MVP. The list goes on, but he’s not playing for the accolades.

“I think there are some people who look at me and say, ‘Oh man, you are awesome,’ ” Pujols says. “They look at me like that and I say, ‘Hey, I’m trying to follow my Lord Jesus.’ That's who I’m trying to represent every day I step on the field when I cross the line. I know there are 35,000-45,000 people watching me play, but at the end I'm only playing for the Lord.”

As much as he wants to represent Christ well, even Pujols has bad nights at the ballpark sometimes. But he knows how to keep it in perspective.

“If I go 0-4, I can’t bring that home to my kids and my family because God’s first, then my family, and my career is the last thing that I worry about,” Pujols says. “So, when I’m out there and playing, I’m just trying to shine for the Lord no matter what happens that night — if I have a bad game or whatever. I represent the Lord.”

Dr. Christe Boen, a close personal friend of Albert and his wife Deidre as well as an active presence in the Christian Family Day (chaired by her mother Judy) that takes place annually in Busch Stadium after a Cardinals game, has seen Albert’s heart for his family first hand.

“I’ve seen Albert standing over the kitchen sink washing dishes after dinner or making a Taco Bell run for some of Dee Dee’s (Deidre) friends after coming home late from a game,” Boen says. “Albert is also very tender and dear with his children. He is very sweet and patient with their daughter, Bella who has Down Syndrome. And I know that he spends time with his son A. J. practicing his swing.” Albert’s faith drives him to care for others as well.

“I can remember bringing a friend down after a game that Albert had met a couple of times before,” Boen says. “He was aware that this friend of mine had lost his job recently and the first word out of Albert’s mouth was one of concern for him. My friend was amazed that the guy who just won the game with a walk off homerun was showing concern for what concerned him the most.”

A little over a year ago, Albert and Deidre launched The Pujols Foundation to give back to the community. Recently the Foundation wrote a check for $50,000 to The Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis and another check for $50,000 to the Ninos de Cristo Orphanage in the Dominican Republic — the country where Albert was born.

Pujols, who is 26 years old, may sound as if he has been a follower of Christ for most of his life, but that’s not the case. He became a Christian at the end of 1998 and he started to grow spiritually when he came to the major leagues in 2001. He got plugged into West County Community Church near St. Louis and came under the discipleship of WCCC Pastor Phil Hunter and his three sons — Phil Jr., Joshua, and Matt. Pastor Hunter developed a system called “Who Jesus Christ Is!” to teach Christians about the various character qualities of Christ from A to Z, and Pujols went through it with him.

Such deep study helps Pujols to respond in Christ-like fashion when fans, in their fanaticism, go too far by insulting him or his family.

“I always say that if something happens to me in the field or if some fan says something I don’t like, I just think, ‘What would Jesus do if it was him?’ So, I just try to forgive whoever crossed the line or says something bad about my family like they have in the past in different cities. But it’s something that I don’t worry about because I know I got the Lord in my heart and that’s the best thing that ever happened in my life.”

Far from making him soft, Pujols’ faith in Jesus Christ gives him a solid set of priorities as well as the strength and determination to carry them out.

photo courtesy St. Louis Cardinals

by Victor Lee

“What makes me any better than anybody else, just because I can hit a little ball with a piece of wood?”

Houston Astro star Lance Berkman asks rhetorically.
By the way he talks, no one would ever guess that Berkman is among Major League Baseball’s best players.

“I guess it’s cool, and I’m very thankful for the Lord blessing me with that ability — but at the same time, our society is really warped about what is admirable and what is not. And I want to show people that I’m just an average Joe.”

This so-called average Joe’s composite season over his seven year career in the Major Leagues — that is, how he performs over an average full-season — is a .302 average, 32 home runs, 110 RBI. And in spite of a strained left groin July 27, the 30-year-old continues to show his all-around ability at the plate with five multi-homer games this year. Statistics like these are comparable to Boston Red Sox’s elite slugger and clutch performer David Ortiz.

Off the field, Berkman is one of the most respected, understated players in the game. He is a Houston icon, a symbol of success and respect. Craig Biggio has carried that mantle for the team and the city, and Berkman is in that mold, a ready successor for when Biggio get his 3,000th hit and retires.

So how did Berkman wind up with such a humble attitude?

Growing up in Texas, Berkman was raised in a Christian home. A promising first baseman, he went to Rice University in Houston.

“I had a great college situation because I had some really good friends and we were all kind of searching for the meaning of Christianity. We had all been raised in Christian environments, but when you get into college you start trying to think for yourself and challenge the views you were brought up with. I definitely went through a period of time when I was testing the waters, exploring whether this was for real.”

Berkman and his buddies did the bar scene and used foul language. “We thought we were cool,” he says. But they were empty.Says Berkman, “That’s when Jake came to Rice.” That’s Jake Baker, fellow baseball player, and son of former NFL player Johnny. Jake and the bat man, Berkman, a year older, became roommates.

“Even as a freshman, you could tell there was definitely something different about him,” Berkman says. “Us older guys would try to get him to act up with us, or just say a cuss word. We loved hanging out with him, but he wouldn’t engage in some of our activities. So I got to thinking, ‘I say I’m a Christian.’ I knew everything about it, was convinced that I was a Christian, but I got to looking at my life, and the fruit in my life did not add up to the way I was living.

“It was Jake’s example that spurred me. He was obviously a Christian, and you could tell it without his saying a word. But I looked at myself, and there wasn’t enough evidence to convict me of being a Christian.” Berkman had a choice to make. “I wanted my beliefs to line up with the way I lived my life. That’s when I made the conversion and started to truly understand what it means to be a follower of Christ.”

That decision altered Berkman’s life.

“Before, I was always performance oriented. If I had a good game, I was in a great mood. If I had a bad game, I’d be surly. But having Christ in my life really changed that,” Berkman explains.

“All baseball players and athletes have to have a certain amount of ego,” he says. “You have to believe you’re equal to any task on the field. But that doesn’t mean you have to carry that into your personal life and think that makes you a better human being than someone else. You’re more privileged than many, and better known, but not better.” Is it hard for Berkman to stay humble?

“When you realize that you’ve been given a gift — in my case to play baseball well — then that helps keep everything in perspective. Sure I have to work hard to develop the talent and keep it sharp, but God gave me the talent. It was nothing of my own doing,” he explains. “Most people want to compartmentalize their job, family and religion,” Berkman told the Houston Chronicle this summer.

“But when you’re a Christian, it permeates every aspect of your life. It’s who I am, and it comes out in every arena. Faith also helps me not get caught up in the hype of being a local celebrity.” Says Berkman, “Some get a feeling of elevated importance. In 200 years, no one will know I played. I try to keep an eternal perspective.”

Photo courtesy Houston Astros

by Tabitha Hanson

Diamondbacks’ first baseman Tony Clark has always been one of the “good guys” in baseball.

But five years ago, on Jan. 27, 2001, he realized that being “good” just wasn’t good enough.

Despite hitting 30 or more home runs in four of his 11 major league seasons and 106 RBIs three consecutive years, the six-foot-seven switch hitter didn’t measure up — at least in God’s eyes.

“I was one of those people that believed I was all right,” Clark explained to Sports Spectrum. “I was a good person; I did good things.”

While playing for the Detroit Tigers, Clark learned from team chaplain Jeff Totten that Jesus Christ alone makes us “good” in the sight of God.

“What Jeff told me, and what the Bible says, is that God was going to say He didn’t know me when my day came,” Clark remembers.

“I had never accepted Christ into my heart. There’s only one way.” After accepting Jesus Christ as his Saviour, he finally found fulfillment.

“I had a hole, a void, in my life.” Clark related. “I tried to fill it with money, possessions, whatever. But that void was there because I did not have Jesus Christ in my heart. As soon as I did that, I had a peace that has been there ever since.” And that peace is apparent to those who know him.

“Guys like him are rare,” teammate Damion Easley, a utility player for the Diamondbacks, told The Arizona Republic of his best friend, Clark. “He’s truly a beautiful man, inside and out.”

Photo courtesy Arizona Diamondbacks