In my stack of 'books currently being read' is a new biography by Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth entitled Pujols -More Than the Game. This is a great book about a faithful follower of Christ who also happens to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Albert Pujols and his wife have been gifted with three children, one of whom is a beautiful daughter named Isabella, who has Down Syndrome. Following is a brief excerpt from a chapter entitled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, which discusses the impact this child has had on their lives and what an impact the Pujols’ family is having on their community.
Baseball is simply my platform to elevate Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
—Albert Pujols
—Albert Pujols
Jordan Henderson was a sixteen-year-old who brimmed with baseball ability and college aspirations. But in July of 2007, the teen from Tennessee died in a car wreck. His parents, Doris and Ken Frizzell, grieved and wept as any parent would do in the face of such loss.
In making funeral preparations for Jordan, a folded and worn piece of paper was pulled from his wallet. It was a “My Story” feature about Albert Pujols, clipped from Sharing the Victory, a magazine produced by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In just a few paragraphs, Pujols explains why his relationship with God is “more important than anything I could ever do in baseball.” He appeals to readers to “accept Him as your Lord and Savior, and you will have eternal life and peace here on Earth.”
The local paper, the Daily News Journal, reported that a thousand copies of the Pujols piece were distributed at Henderson’s funeral. Word about the story got around, and Todd Perry made a few phone calls. Doris and Ken were brought to a Cardinals game and showered with love by Albert and Dee Dee.
The following year, the entire team for which Jordan had played was brought to Busch Stadium for a special day on the field, touring the clubhouse, and watching the game from the owner’s suite. The Daily News Journal story said that the team “joined Pujols, the Frizzells and Riverdale parent Greg Hart outside the Cardinals locker room for a prayer.”
“Make sure that you stand up for Christ,” Pujols said that night. “If you look at the whole picture, hopefully some of these kids take [Jordan’s life] as an example. Our lives are so short.”
As followers of Christ, Albert and Dee Dee seek to obey him in the commissioning that he spoke to his disciples before ascending into heaven:
All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18–20)
And again:
You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
Jesus’ command is straightforward and simple—share the good news of Christ with everyone. Or, as it was once well said, “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
Every Christian is to be a witness for Christ. When Albert and Dee Dee share Christ, they are not doing something reserved only for the so-called celebrities of the faith. However, it is also true that Pujols’ baseball prowess supplies him with the incredible opportunity to “find bread” with huge numbers of people. Telling others about Jesus is a stewardship and responsibility embraced by the Pujolses.
Even mainstream journalists stop and take note of the centrality of Christianity in Pujols’ life. In a candid article titled, “Pujols is a faith-based mystery,” Yahoo.com sports columnist Jeff Passan wrote about the relationship between Pujols’ faith and his talent:
As conditioned as we are to hear the word God out of an athlete’s mouth and immediately tune it out, knowing well the hypocritical piety perpetuated by so many, what if there really is something to Pujols’ devotion? What if it weren’t so much faith vs. science but something more symbiotic: faith driving science? Without God, Pujols might be like a Bentley without a key. Belief in God ignites something inside of Pujols, something that motivates him to train, to draw out whatever resides inside of him, no matter whether inborn or developed. He traces all those hours in the cage and all that natural ability to the breadth of his belief.
The Pujolses use the word platform to explain their understanding of why God gave Pujols such phenomenal baseball talent. Pujols said, “God has given me the ability to succeed in the game of baseball. But baseball is not the end; baseball is the means by which my wife, Dee Dee, and I glorify God. Baseball is simply my platform to elevate Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.”
The Pujolses express passion and joy when they speak about Christ. Their faith animates them. “It is a wonderful paradox that the more of Christ’s love you share with others,” Todd Perry said, “the more you are blessed in return.”
And they share a simple message of Christ’s love that can be understood by anyone willing to listen. “He’s very vocal and very simple. If anybody has talked to Albert at all, he probably told them that they need Jesus,” said Grant Williams, Baseball Chapel leader for the Cardinals. “At the end of the day, Albert is right when he says that Jesus is the answer. You know where he is coming from.”
Pujols talks in plain language: “How do I know that I will spend eternity with God in heaven? It goes back to the original discussion—faith. The Bible says, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’ It is my faith in Jesus Christ’s work in my life that grants me eternal life with God. Nothing more, nothing less.”[1]
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