Playing Catch with Phillies Fans

I have known only a few fans of the Philadelphia Phillies.  But the few I do know fit the stereotype the media offers: Phillies fans are fanatics, loyal to the core. Why, they even name their mascot the Philly Phanatic.  The stories of Philly sports fans would fill a book (which I am guessing they already have written, maybe a few times over).

So it must have been the cause of some serious discussion when one national newspaper ran a big story about a little girl, Kate, who was attending the Phillies baseball game in her gray top bearing the Phillies logo, sporting her pink baseball glove, worn to the game in hopes, like all children, of catching a baseball for a souvenir. (Source: WSJ, Jared Diamond, “A Buddy in the Stands”, May 11, 2015)  There is nothing unusual about a child going to the ballgame; that is to be expected. What caught a reporter’s eye was the sight of a New York Mets relief pitcher, Buddy Carlyle, standing in the outfield before the game playing catch with Kate.  Mr. Carlyle, aptly named Buddy, makes a practice on road games of going into the outfield during team warm-ups to find a child with whom to warm up his arm by playing catch. Mr. Carlyle stands in the outfield and tosses the ball over the fence to a child in the stands, in this case Kate.  He invites the child to toss the ball back to him, and then the game of catch begins.  The child, of course, ends up with the souvenir and Buddy Carlyle ends up with at least one new fan.  As Kate told the reporter, Buddy was now her favorite Mets player, while admitting she knew no others.

Mr. Carlyle admitted to the reporter that he is “about as anonymous as they come” in the world of big league players.  That is what got  me thinking.  What made is possible for Kate to take a liking to a man in the “enemy uniform” was that he didn’t have a famous story. He just had a baseball which he was willing to toss. He wasn’t too important or too snobbish to remember that baseball is a game, a kids game played by kids of all ages. Even Phillies fans can be converted to cheer for a Met by a game of catch.

Do you want to attract “fans” for your “team”, people of God?  Well, maybe it’s time to stop trying so hard, and just start inviting people to play catch.

(In memory of the Rev. Dr. Carl Kleis, who loved all things “Philly”; who, upon reading this, would call me to talk baseball, presidents, and finding God with a good catch.)