In 1995, I was assigned to St. Cecilia’s Parish in Fort Myers, Florida. One of the things I looked forward to was my first spring training. It happened that on a sunny morning in late February of 1996, while walking in downtown Fort Myers, I came upon one of the spring training facilities of the Boston Red Sox.
I happily stood behind a chain link fence that bordered the outfield and began to watch the early spring practice. There were Red Sox and possible future Red Sox players on the field going through various hitting and fielding drills.
I had been standing there for only a few minutes when a ball was hit over the fence and landed in the street behind me. I ran over and picked it up.
If I had a bucket list as a youth, capturing a major league baseball would have been near the top of the list. I had spent many summers on that quest with my brothers and friends at Phillies games.
Now I had a major league baseball. Yet it did not seem right. The ball was too easy for me to obtain.
I jogged back to the fence and called to the Red Sox players in the outfield, asking if they wanted the ball returned. One of the players yelled back, “No, keep it we have plenty of them.”
And so, the quest of my youth had come to an end in a way I had not imagined.
For more than twenty-five years “The Official Ball of the American League” has sat proudly on a bookshelf. It serves as a reminder that while life may have difficulties, it also can surprise us with simple unexpected gifts.
St. Francis writes in support of sports and recreation in the Introduction to a Devout Life saying: “Some recreation is necessary to refresh mind and body... It is certainly wrong to be so strict with oneself, so austere and unsociable, as to deny oneself and everyone else, recreation.” Like with many things, he also reminds us to seek balance and encourages us not to go overboard: “To spend too much time on a game makes it an occupation rather than a recreation.” However, I like to believe that he would make an exception for the playoffs and World Series!
Fr. David Devlin, OSFS
Priest in Residence, Our Mother of Consolation Parish
Philadelphia, PA
