Non HOF Starting Nine

Guy was asking for a lineup of great players, with only one hall of famer included. Kinda weird request. Here’s mine:

 

SP: Jim Kaat (over Tommy John & Roger Clemens)

RP: Mariano Rivera HOF (over Dick Radatz)

DH: Kirk Gibson

RF: Shoeless Joe Jackson (over Dwight Evans)

CF: Andruw Jones (over Bobby Murcer)

LF: Barry Bonds (over Lance Berkman & Roy White)

3B: Alex Rodriquez (over Scott Rolen)

SS: Omar Vizquel (over Davey Concepcion)

2B: Pete Rose (over Lou Whitaker & Jeff Kent)

1B: Mark McGuire (over Dick Allen & Steve Garvey)

C: Dale Murphy (over Thurman Munson)

    

Guess I could put Murphy in left field in front of Bonds. Murphy did start his career as a catcher, then moved to first base, then left field, then center – where he earned a few old gloves.

 

Playing sports is tough. A grind that wears on the body. The greats excel year after year. Injuries don’t seem to bother them. Others begin their careers as standouts, then may get derailed by injuries. Then some seem to cobble together a good season during the last season of their contract, sign for big money, then seem to be plagued by injuries. Or complain about not getting the ball, or some other misfortune. They can be a drain on team morale. I’m not a fan of these. It’s the true greats, who excel year after year without complaint of fanfare that I admire – not idolize.

Easy to admire Adam Duvall, playing this season despite being high risk due to his diabetes. Three home runs Wednesday, then this afternoon robbing a home run to save the win over the Nationals.

 

Denison: a new survey reveals that 52 percent of American adults believe Jesus was a great teacher but not God. This is despite Jesus’ clear claims to divinity (cf. Matthew 26:63–64, John 8:58, John 14:6; for more, see my article “Why Jesus?”). Tragically, 30 percent of evangelical Christians agree that Jesus was merely a great teacher.

 

Of course, a person who claims to be God but is not cannot be a great teacher. As C. S. Lewis noted in his classic work Mere Christianity: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 

 

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Commenting on this passage, theologian Wayne Grudem notes: “Where love abounds in a fellowship of Christians, many small offenses, and even some large ones, are readily overlooked and forgotten. But where love is lacking, every word is viewed with suspicion, every action is liable to misunderstanding, and conflicts abound—to Satan’s perverse delight.” 

 

ME: not sure where Denison got his info. It’s probably not that evangelicals don’t believe the Bible – more like they never really learned what the Bible says, or they’ve forgotten it if not turned their backs on it. I’m talking about my generation and younger. The days of Bible drills and memory verses are for the most part long gone. It’s obvious when you read social media. I am constantly blown away by all the negativity and anti-God sentiment out there. People are sheep, led by whatever breeze blows their way.

Another in my series of braves gear: 1962 jersey, Boston Braves fitted cap, striped Stance socks, and a few Bob uecker stadium giveaways: Uecker talking alarm clock (top left), Uecker talking bottle opener (top right), Uecker catcher bobblehead, Uecker statue bobblehead. Not pictured: Uecker Major League Harry Doyle talking bobblehead, uecker fishing bobblehead, and Uecker nesting dolls.