Reporting on baseball and faith: A religion writer combines two loves
DETROIT — Cecil Cooper. Bobby Murcer. Rod Carew. Frank Tanana.
As a boy growing up in the 1970s, I scoured the stats on the backs of their baseball cards.
Little did I know that I’d grow up to be a journalist and get to talk to them about their lives and careers — and yes, their faith.
Bobby Ross Jr. interviews Cecil Cooper at the Houston Astros’ ballpark in 2005.
I met Cooper at Houston’s ballpark during his time as the Astros’ bench coach in 2005. I later caught up with him again after he served as the team’s manager.
I sat down with Murcer in his home state of Oklahoma in 2007 as he battled brain cancer. He succumbed to the disease the next year.
I connected with Carew, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, on the telephone in 2020 in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discussed his then-new memoir, “One-Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs.”
For my latest story on my favorite sport, I explored the Christian journey of Tanana, who from 1973 to 1993 pitched for the California Angels, the Boston Red Sox, the Texas Rangers, the Detroit Tigers, the New York Mets and the New York Yankees.
Read the rest of the column.
Fans pray during Home Plate Detroit, an annual Christian outreach event at Comerica Park.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Ross writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged, where this piece originally appeared. Reach him at [email protected].
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