I’m not a Boston Red Sox fan. But I was thrilled to watch what happened back in the 2004 divisional series between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The winner would go to the World Series.
New York got ahead three games to zero in the series and seemed poised for a sweep. No team had ever come from behind after another team led 3-0.
Boston trailed by one run in the fourth game, and future hall of famer Mariano Rivera was called in to close it for the Yankees. Rivera was unhittable. However, he walked Kevin Millar. Millar was slow, so Boston’s manager decided to put in a pinch runner—Dave Roberts.
Dave Roberts was traded to Boston from Los Angeles in July of that year. He had hardly played in the two months he had been with Boston, and he had not played in the two weeks leading up to that ballgame.
Yet, there was one thing Dave Roberts could do well—run. Suddenly, he was thrust into a very difficult situation. He was called upon to use his discretion to steal a base.
It was cold that October night in Boston; the temperature was probably in the 40s or 50s. Roberts had little opportunity to stretch, having sat on the bench for almost nine complete innings. However, Roberts had studied Rivera. He knew his moves to first base and home plate. After Rivera had tossed three balls to first base to hold Roberts to the bag, Roberts made his move.
It was a critical moment. Sportswriter Peter King later asked him, "Were you nervous?''
"Well,” Roberts replied, “it was one of those things where one side of my brain is saying, 'Go for it!' And the other side of my brain is saying, 'Take it easy, now. If you get thrown out, you'll be exiled from this city for life. And it'll be another year of Red Sox failure.' They're doing battle. But I just thought it was something I had to do. The game depended on it.”
He was safe. Iconic Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter, took the catcher’s throw. After the play, he offered his tribute, “I don't know how you sit in this weather for eight innings and come in and steal a bag like that. Good job.”
Shortly thereafter, Red Sox batter Bill Mueller hit a single to score Roberts and tie the game. Boston won in the twelfth inning.
Boston went on to win game five and then games six and seven in New York. They did the unthinkable—they defeated the Yankees four games to three after being behind three games to none. Unprecedented.
The Red Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 to win the World Series—Boston’s first since 1918. The curse of the trade of Babe Ruth had been broken—if you believe in curses.
Dave Roberts did not play in the World Series. He had hardly played at all in Boston the entire time he was with the team. Yet, if Dave Roberts had not done that one thing—steal a base—Boston would not have been World Champions.
That one thing had to be done, and he did it.
You may be reading this post, gifted by God to do one thing and one thing only. Are you willing to offer God that one thing?
That one thing could make an eternal difference in the Kingdom.
4There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. 5There are different ways to serve the same Lord, 6and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do. 7The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others (I Cor. 12:4-7.) CEV
Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)
1. I can’t wait to read Thom and Jess Rainer’s new book—THE MILLENNIALS CONNECTING TO AMERICA’S LARGEST GENERATION.
2. I recently received a complimentary copy of the magazine, THE WEEK. I liked it a lot. Were I not already reading so many “mags” and journals, I think I would subscribe. Perhaps in the future.
3. I think I appreciate more and more the talent and personality of Justin Timberlake. Here is a quote from the aforementioned THE WEEK regarding the beginning days of his old band, ’NSync, and their serving as opening acts for heavy metal rock bands, “[One concert] it was literally raining beer cans and glass bottles the whole time from 500,000 people who wanted to see AC/DC and not [me.]”
4. Still waiting for a review from my mom on the new movie THE HELP. The previews looked good.
5. This week Judy and I take our first born, Haleigh, to college. For almost a year, I have used the Beatles song SHE’S LEAVING HOME as Haleigh’s ring tone on my cell phone. I guess I’ll have to replace it. Maybe I need to go back and look up the lyrics to the old HALL AND OATES song, “She’s Gone.” That might work.
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