c. 1999 Religion News Service
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ The song “Taking Care of Business” was blasting over the loudspeaker at Joe Davis Stadium on a recent hot, humid Sunday afternoon.
Huntsville attorney Rod Steakley, a deacon at Whitesburg Baptist Church and volunteer chaplain for the Huntsville Stars, the Double A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, had just finished leading a worship service in the Stars’ locker room. Now he was rushing across the field to take care of still more spiritual business by holding a similar service for Huntsville’s opponent, the Jacksonville Suns.
About a dozen Jacksonville players had gathered in their dugout 40 minutes before game time for the team’s Sunday chapel service. Steakley reached in his black satchel and pulled out several well-worn Bibles to give to the players so they could follow along as he read the Scripture.
The “congregation” eventually grew to 16 as players drifted in following batting practice, some helping themselves to water from the cooler as Steakley led an 18-minute mini-service of prayer and preaching.”It’s amazing with all the intensity of preparing for a ball game _ and many would think it would be a distraction from preparation for it _ that so many of the young men do attend the services,”said Steakley, who played football under the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama.”A number of them are very sincere in their faith or are searching for something of a spiritual nature.” Strong faith can be as much an asset to a ballplayer as a good swing. Steakley said minor-league baseball players rank at or near the top when it comes to job pressure.”There is probably no more difficult lifestyle than to be a minor-league baseball player,”he said.”There are a lot of temptations and opportunities for them, even when they are home. They have a lot of pressures such as battling injuries and family problems. It’s especially tough on the married players because they are on the road 50 percent of the time.” Stars pitcher Jay Akin, 25, said being a Christian and a minor league baseball player has its good points and bad points.”The toughest part is not being able to go to church as much as I would like,”said Akin.”The good part of it is that I get a lot of time to read and study (the Bible).”This is a hard life and it’s a lot of hard work. You have to have the Lord in your life to help you through your struggles and stress. You could get released tomorrow and be out of a job. If you just ask the Lord to come into your life, though, and depend on him, you will be OK.” Akin’s teammate and friend, Stars pitcher Jim Converse, agrees.”It is tough not getting to be in a church fellowship because you can get dried up (spiritually),”he said.”It’s tough to find time for a regular Bible study, so we have to do a lot of reading and studying on our own.” Akin, from Memphis, Tenn., was raised to go to church regularly, but said it wasn’t until he met his wife, Jennifer, a devout Southern Baptist, that he”was saved.””I had been to church all my life and did all the church things such as Bible school, Sunday school and church camp,”said Akin.”I had studied the Bible for a long time and Jesus was in my life, but not my heart.” Akin and Converse often have theological discussions while waiting their turn to be called from the bullpen.”Sometimes we argue about (theological) things and butt heads, but mostly we stick together and talk a lot about how Christ is working in our lives,”said Akin.
He credits Steakley for helping him in his spiritual life.”The first thing that opened the door for Rod is that he is a former athlete and that caught our eye,”said Akin.”Every town we play in has a minor-league chaplain, but Rod is the best I’ve heard. He patterns things (in the Bible) to us.” Steakley, a trial lawyer, is not only available to the team on Sundays but also counsels individual players about their professional careers and personal lives, whenever they can work it in between his court appearances and their games.
He took over the duties five years ago.”It is a great privilege to have them ask my advice on something,”said Steakley.”You have a whole spectrum of people who have the world ahead of them, yet it is encouraging to see how many really want to make the spiritual component of their lives a priority.” Steakley said becoming a Christian doesn’t mean the players won’t have problems such as injuries, fielding errors or batting slumps.”God’s promise is not that he will save us from the fire and flood, but he will preserve us as we go through them,”he said.
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