It's funny isn't it, how certain experiences (sights, sounds, smells, etc.) have the ability to just grab ahold of you and take you back in time? For me, I don't think there is really anything that does it more vividly than the combination of Summer, the month of June and Little League Baseball.
Every Summer, for the last three years now, I have made it a point to adjust my speaking, teaching, ministry and travel schedule for the month of June so I can be a part of coaching my boys, Zeph (age 10), and Ezra (age 6), in Baseball. Having grown up without a dad, for me, "being" a dad through activities like coaching is without a doubt, both an opportunity and an experience that I treasure more than I can even begin to express.
Maybe it's the intertwining of so many different sensory experiences that make Baseball, June and Summer the "triggers" of memory that they are for me. The smell of a ball-glove, the feel of baseball stitching on your fingertips, the weight of a bat in your hands, the aroma of a freshly mowed outfield, the "crunch" of the infield under your shoes, the thickness of the air (Kansas humidity) at a Saturday morning practice, the "pop" of a ball meeting a glove, the "ting" of a bat hitting a ball, the shouts of base coaches, the cheers of a crowd, and the strong clear sound of an umpire's voice "making the call..." So many, many, ingredients, and at any given moment in the mixture of it all, I myself am one of the kids, back in my hometown, playing ball again, thinking the thoughts a boy thinks when Baseball is the most important thing in his world.
It was at a game this past week that I had a moment just like that. I had spent the game pitching for my son Ezra's "coach-pitch" team, made up of 6 and 7 year old boys mostly, playing in what's called a "Midget League." I had been wearing my old Yankees cap and it was after the game, after we had all gone through the "good game" / "high five" line, as we were on the "return trip" of each team returning to its respective dugout, when a kid on the other team tipped his hat (a Yankees cap a lot like mine) and smiled as he walked by and said "Go Yankees!" And then he was gone, back to his dugout and his team, and there I was, for whatever reason, transported back to the Summer of 1977, when I was a brokenhearted, 8 year old little boy, grieving and yet not knowing how to grieve. I was halfway through one of the most difficult years of my childhood. It was the Summer I turned 9. Like every kid I knew that Summer, I was playing Little League Baseball. It was in the Summer of 1977 that I became a life-long Yankees fan. And, as it just so happened, 1977 turned out to be a GREAT year to be a Yankee!
Why exactly I became a Yankees fan that Summer, I'm not completely sure, but I remember that they had done well in 1976 and that my Grandpa and my Uncles all HATED the Yankees. They were all Kansas City Royals men, and they thought the Yankees were... well, they had a lot of words to say about the Yankees that I won't try to put in print. But, let's just say they all thought the Yankees were "...the most worthless team in Major League Baseball!" And, now that I think of it, that may just be the reason, or at least part of the reason, I decided to become a Yankees fan that Summer.
It had been in December of 1976, that my grandma, or "Nanna" as I called her, died of cancer. It's amazing to me how real that pain and those memories still are to me, even now. (Wow, tears as I write this, really?!?) She was without a doubt "the hub" of our whole family, and hers was a face I had seen practically every day of my life since I was born. Until... Losing her was devastating to everyone in my family, and for me in particular it was... well, I just cant seem to find the words to explain. Let it suffice to say that it was, as I remember, really, really, really hard, and our family and our lives all changed so very much after her death. And, though I was "just a kid," my world was without a doubt, completely turned upside down.
As the Summer of 77 rolled around, my Grandpa headed off to Arkansas. I know now that his "getting away" was just part of his own grief journey, and that he was trying to sort things out for himself. But, as a kid, I just couldn't understand it. Abilene, Kansas, though, was the best town on the planet for an 8 year old American boy to live in, and I had a bike I could ride to baseball practices, to games, to the city pool, and to the "Ben Franklin" store to buy packs of Baseball Cards (back when they still had a stick of Bubble Gum in 'em!). And, I had teammates I could hang out with, and the baseball fields were just down the street from the pool, and it seemed like there was always somebody you could find to play ball with during those long summer days.
1977 was the year I got my first Catchers Mitt, it was a MacGregor (genuine Autograph Model), with a Thurman Munson signature on the outside edge of the inside pocket. My Yankees heroes that Summer were Thurman Munson (C), Catfish Hunter (P), and a new guy on the team (who would come to be known as "Mr. October"), a slugger Right Fielder named Reggie Jackson. And, without a doubt, my favorite Yankee of the lot was Fire-Ball Manager, Billy Martin. Though I had no idea what it meant at the time, there was something cathartic for me about watching him blow his stack and come unglued on whatever Umpire made whatever call he happened to disagree with at whatever point in time of the game that he chose. Watching him explode, I knew I had that kind of rage in me too, and I wished I could let it out like he did.
Back to now... one of the things I love most about coaching my boys is also getting to know the other boys on their teams and seeing them just be "who" they are and "how" they are. Knowing what I was going through at their age, I wonder sometimes what things they might be going through as well. I pray for the kids on the team, for their families, for whatever they may be dealing with at home, and before every game we take a minute and have a "team prayer." For some of those boys I know they have never prayed before, and I pray that our "team prayers" can become seeds of faith for each one of them that will grow and help them to become all that God created them to be.
In the Summer of 1977, after baseball season was over, I remember that I went to Vacation Bible School at Emmanuel Church in Abilene. It was there that I first prayed and gave my heart to Jesus. I remember my teacher, a lady named Marylou Stirtz, leading me to the Lord and saying, "Remember Robby, you can always call on Jesus..." I tell the kids on my team the same thing every time we pray: "Remember Boys, you can always call on Jesus!" It was her words that came to me on the first Sunday in April of 1989, as my own life was in total ruins, filled with the consequences of my own destructive actions, and I woke up knowing I had only three real choices that morning: "Suicide, Insanity or Jesus." As I thought about those choices, I remembered the words of my VBS teacher from 1977 on that morning in 1989: "Robby, you can always call on Jesus." I did just that in that moment, I called on Jesus, and I came back Home to Him, and He called me "Safe" at Home, and things have never been the same since.
So, why am I writing this...? I honestly can't say. What's the point...? I'm not sure I know. But, I do know this... "We are who we are now, in part because of who we were and what we went through when."
In 1977, the New York Yankees became World Series Champions, soundly beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in 4 out of 6 games. In my heart, for whatever reason, there will always be a Spiritual connection between the New York Yankees and my walk with Jesus. And, what I really do as a traveling evangelist and preacher of the Gospel, is to do all that I can to help people call on Jesus, make it to "Home" and get into a personal and transformational relationship with Jesus.
At the writing of this Blog the Yankees have over 50 wins, just passed the Season halfway mark, and are 2 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. I'm praying 2018'll once again be a GREAT year to be a Yankees fan, but for me every year is a GREAT year to be a Yankees Fan. "Go Yankees!!!"
Keep On Keepin' On IN Jesus!
- Rob Schmutz
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 & Romans 10:13
