God and baseball.
Both are favorite subjects of mine, and sometimes, they intersect.
We eventually will get to the religion angle in this post, so please hang with me for a moment. But first, let’s set the scene with a little unfortunate background: It’s been a rough few days for the bush-league PR operation of the Houston Astros.
Even as attention should be focused on the team’s feel-good pursuit of its second World Series title in three years, a foul-mouthed, female-sportswriter-bullying assistant general manager named Brandon Taubman managed to rile even local Astros fans.
Major League Baseball is investigating what happened after the Astros’ pennant-clinching win on Saturday night, as CBS News notes:
The Houston Astros lost Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals, but it's drama off the field that's making headlines. Major League Baseball is investigating the expletive-filled celebration of a controversial player that an Astros executive apparently directed to a group of female reporters.
Sports Illustrated reporter Stephanie Apstein wrote that Astros assistant general manager, Brandon Taubman, turned to the female reporters, one of whom was wearing a domestic violence bracelet, and yelled: "Thank God we got Osuna! I'm so f— glad we got Osuna!"
He was referring to pitcher Roberto Osuna, picked up by the Astros after he was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2018 for allegedly assaulting the mother of his young child. The Astros had initially been criticized for acquiring Osuna after he had been accused of domestic violence.
The Poynter Institute’s Tom Jones — in a daily briefing that highlights “The Astros’ sexist mistake” — runs down the team hierarchy’s bungling of Taubman’s tirade all along the way:
The Astros declined to comment for Apstein’s story. In fact, Apstein held off writing the story for two days in hopes of getting a comment from the Astros. Only after it was published did the Astros put out a statement saying the story was “misleading and completely irresponsible.” It also said, “We are extremely disappointed in Sports Illustrated’s attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist.”
But apparently it did exist. Three eyewitnesses, including two Houston Chronicle reporters, confirmed Apstein’s version of events. That’s when the Astros went into damage control mode and somehow managed to create even more damage. Taubman put out a statement Tuesday apologizing for “inappropriate language” and saying his comments were “unprofessional and inappropriate.” He then went on to say that his comments did not reflect his values and concluded with the not-really-an-apology: “I am sorry if anyone was offended by my actions.” He never did apologize directly to the reporters, nor admit the context of his comments.
The Houston Chronicle’s Jenny Dial Creech wrote a column declaring the series “tainted” and suggesting that the “Astros just don’t get it.”
“Women being harassed in the clubhouse, a reporter who did her job being dragged through the mud by an organization, a few bogus apologies that do not hold enough weight to matter … these are the things being discussed at Minute Maid Park instead” of the World Series itself, Creech pointed out.
It’s clear that right about now, the Astros — particularly the manager and players who didn’t create this mess — could use some good news. Some God news, even.
Enter Astros hero Jose Altuve, a Christian who hit the game-winning home run Saturday night.
(T)he first thing the 29-year-old Altuve did after sending the Astros to their second World Series in three years was give glory to God.
“First, I want to thank God and all the fans for the beautiful game, for the beautiful playoffs,” he told FOX’s Ken Rosenthal. Altuve later added, “Running around the bases, the only thing I was thinking was thanking God and just thinking that we’re going to the World Series once again.”
Altuve has written on Instagram, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That is a reference to Philippians 4:13 of the New Testament.
On Monday afternoon, the Houston Chronicle re-upped a short article it first published in 2016 on Altuve sharing the importance of faith in his life:
"I grew up in a family that always told me that to achieve success, we needed to have God first," Altuve said through a translator in a video the Astros released this weekend. "To achieve success wasn't to get to the major leagues or have the best season in the world. The best success is to live your life the way God wants you to. If you can do that, if you can be good with God, then I think you will have success in your life."
Altuve also talked about the importance of prayer.
"We need to not just ask God but thank Him for everything like our health, our family," Altuve said, "and ask him to bless our homes and to always be present in our daily lives, and to keep us safe is the most important."
Given faith’s importance to Altuve — one of the Astros’ biggest stars — I’d love to see more in-depth attention given to that side of his life. It’s worth stressing too, as tmatt noted the last time the Astros were in the World Series, that Altuve isn’t the only Houston player committed to Jesus. Perhaps the Astros should hire a media relations team to push this kind of storyline instead of supporting non-apology apology bullies like Taubman.
Other possible World Series faith angles? Perhaps we can talk more about this later, but Tim Ellworth has a couple of interesting pieces published by Baptist Press — one on the Christian faith of Washington Nationals star Anthony Rendon and another on “World Series umpire Lance Barksdale’s pivotal moment.” Yes, that moment was a faith moment.
From the umpire story:
Barksdale has for the past four years served on the same crew with Ted Barrett, the crew chief, who is one of the leaders of the "Calling for Christ" umpire ministry. Over his years as a Major League umpire, Barrett has seen several men come to Christ in radical conversions, coming out of addictions and sinful lifestyles.
An umpire ministry? Who knew such a thing existed? Please tell me more, sportswriter friends.