I believe one of the most important things that we can do to make our Christian Apologetics relevant and compelling is to practice “opportunity evangelism” – looking for things that occur in everyday life that we can use as a springboard for helping the lost world to understand the value of the Christian worldview. Jesus was a master of this, telling parables of sowing and reaping and other life events to audiences of harvesters, shepherds, and fisherman. Nowadays, we might have to turn to different kinds of events to share those same kingdom principles in a relevant way with the folks around us. Recently, Major League Baseball has afforded us one of those opportunities.
No doubt baseball fans the world over, be it from Boston or Beijing, have heard about the “Near Perfect Game”, or what I’ve described as “The call heard ‘round the world”. Last week, Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was hardly known outside of Detroit the day before the game, proceeded to pitch a game that would promise to take him to legendary status. After 26 straight outs, with no walks, Galarraga was only one batter away from pitching the 21st perfect game in all of Major League Baseball history. (A perfect game in Major League Baseball is one where a pitcher pitches a game with no hits, and no walks. All 27 batters of the opposing team – 3 in each inning, for nine innings – never reach a base.)
But then the unbelievable happened. The final batter of the opposing team hit a routine base hit that was intercepted by Tigers’ player Miguel Cabrera, who threw the ball to first base for the out. The ball was there a full stride ahead of the batter – clearly making the batter out by anyone’s judgment.
Anyone’s judgment except for one.
In a split-second decision, umpire Jim Joyce called the batter safe. And Armando Galarraga’s history-making 21st perfect game was gone.
You could hear the sporting world gasp across the globe, the breath leaving them simultaneously as that tragic play unfolded. But the big shock was yet to come.
Jim Joyce, looking back on the recorded tapes of the play, did something practically unheard of for a baseball umpire. He dropped his head in agony, admitted his call was a grave mistake, and said, “I just cost that kid a perfect game.” Then he asked for the opportunity to personally apologize to Galarraga.
Then the profound final act of the entire drama unfolded.
With fans still verbally lashing out at Jim Joyce, demanding he be fired from Major League Baseball for his horrendous call, and even targeting his family with verbal assaults, Armondo Galaragga turned Joyce’s destiny of accusation and condemnation on its head in one instant. He came out on public television at the next game, stood at the pitcher’s mound next to the guilty and subjugated ump, and forgave Jim Joyce unconditionally, affectionately slapping him on the shoulder at the pitcher’s mound. Jim Joyce was later quoted as saying, that in all his years as a major league umpire, "I've never had a moment like this."
For 21 years Umpire Jim Joyce’s career had flourished in relative anonymity, and then in an instant was transformed into a bitter infamy. And now, in a profound moment in time, once again changed into sweet victory as relationship was re-established and fame spread of both Galaragga and Joyce.
Anyone who hears the story can’t help but be drawn into the drama, complete with the profound sense of tragedy and the reconciliation that followed.
And I can’t help but to think…what’s any different about Christianity?
As an umpire expected to make the right call, Jim Joyce had “missed the mark”. And there was no way for him to correct it. After all, Major League Baseball rules don’t change to accommodate umpires’ mistakes; mistakes crash against the stone wall of the authoritative rules and break. So he was guilty. But who paid the price? Innocent Armando Galarraga. Jim Joyce’s “sin” cost Armando the matchless reputation that was rightfully his.
Yet in that moment, Jim Joyce asked for forgiveness for his offense, an offense that could never be righted, and Galaragga extended that forgiveness without expectation of payment or recompense. More than that, he restored Jim Joyce to fellowship with himself and all the fans, even giving him a better reputation than what he had before his tragic mistake.
Sound familiar?
That’s a pretty good picture of the Gospel. Maybe not a perfect analogy, but pretty darn good. Tragic failure on behalf of the guilty as we “miss the mark” (sin) against the righteous law, the absorption of the penalty by the innocent, and the profound forgiveness and a greater restoration of the guilty by the innocent – only in the Christian worldview do we find these wonderful values central to the story of life.
Share that with your baseball-loving friend, and he might understand the message of Jesus Christ for the first time. And perhaps after understanding the message, he’ll want to have a catch with the only One who ever pitched a “perfect game” in the game of life.
- Mickey Badalamenti