“Chronological age does not have anything to do with a player of (Damon’s) genetics.” – Scott Boras

Well, sure. Had Jesus Christ been around longer, I’m pretty sure that he would’ve been able to OPS over 1.000 well into his sixties. He was just that special.

Yesterday, MLB Trade Rumors reported that Josh Hamilton had switched agents, moving from Sosnick Cobbe Sports to Moye Sports Associates because he “wanted to be with a Christian stable.”

This made me curious. Christian sports agents? I did a quick google search and couldn’t find a website for Moye Sports Associates (Note to Hamilton: it is NOT a good sign when your agent doesn’t have a website). I did find an address and phone number:

Moye Sports Associates, Inc.: 5400 Laurel Springs Pkwy Suite 401 Suwanee GA, 30024-0000 (404) 577-3700.

Suwanee, Georgia. One of the top 10 places in America to live, according to Money Magazine. And a darn good place to locate a sports management company, if you ask me.

A little more research revealed that Moye Sports Associates is run by Mike Moye and former pitcher Scott Sanderson. The firm last made headlines in 2001 when they dropped their biggest client, White Sox slugger Frank Thomas, after he skipped a few workouts to protest his contract.

Here’s what Moye had to say about Thomas at the time:

“From the beginning of our involvement with Frank this off-season, we have consistently advised him to honour his contract, perform to the best of his abilities on the field and address any issues he might have with the White Sox privately,” his agents said in a statement. “Based on recent discussions with Frank, we have concluded that we have divergent views on certain principles that we believe are fundamental in the representation of our clients.”

Former major leaguer Sanderson became a partner at Moye Sports after a long and distinguished playing career. He earned an All-Star selection in 1991 and finished with a 163-143 record, a 3.84 ERA and 1,611 strikeouts with seven different teams.

But baseball isn’t all Sanderson is interested in. He also fancies himself a bit of a journalist:

“I’m the youngest of five children. I’m not impulsive,” he said. “I don’t react quickly to things I don’t investigate. I did some investigative journalism and found out that the claims Jesus Christ made were correct. Shortly thereafter, I asked Christ to come into my life.”

No word on whether Sanderson adhered to the “three source rule” when investigating Christ’s claims (He has yet to publish his findings), but Sanderson is relishing the opportunity to “counsel his clients in a broad range of issues like handling success and failure on the field, dealing with a difficult manager and playing through injuries” – all for a mere 10 percent (give or take).

Today, Moye Sports Associates’ clients include Boston ace Josh Beckett, Houston first baseman Lance Berkman and Colorado first baseman Todd Helton, as well as Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna and U.S. Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix.

Now you can add Josh Hamilton, a former heroin addict with colorful tattoos and 65 RBI, to that list. And now that Hamilton is on board, it’s about time to negotiate a long-term, multimillion dollar deal. Because, after all, what would Jesus do?

Everybody’s talking about the Colorado Rockies and how they love them some Jesus.

But let’s not forget that the Red Sox are big fans of J.C., too.

The Baseball Chapel is a ministry that provides all 30 major league teams with a chaplain. And the guys who run the Baseball Chapel said that the Sox are the holiest of the holies.

”Without question, chapel attendance among the Red Sox has been far and away more than any of the major league teams over the last two years,” said Vince Nauss, president of Baseball Chapel.

Of course, that was in 2005. The Christian guys on that 2005 team included Trot Nixon, Mike Timlin, Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek, Curt Schilling, Doug Mirabelli, Bill Mueller, Matt Clement, John Olerud, Mike Myers, Tony Graffanino, Chad Bradford. Today, several of those players are gone. But they’ve been replaced by Super-Christians like J.D. Drew, who believes in the sacred authority of the Bible and the promise of Jesus Christ as his savior.

Olerud said the 2005 Sox were the most devout team he ever played for:

”In terms of coming to Bible study and chapel, this team has more guys involved than any team I’ve ever been with,” said Olerud, who has played for five teams over 17 seasons in the majors.

Now, I don’t think there’s any doubt that, from top to bottom, the Rockies organization is more Christian than the Sox. Dan O’Dowd has prayer sessions on the telephone with club President Keli McGregor and manager Clint Hurdle, for crying out loud. Somehow, I can’t picture Theo, Tito and John Henry doing the same.

But let’s give the Red Sox their due. They may have lost their Baseball Jesus, but they’ve still got faith.

Now, as to which will generate better results the Rockies’ pious Christianity or the Red Sox blend of religion and “idiocy”, only time will tell.

But history shows God favors the idiots.

Though, as Paul pointed out in an earlier post, the Rockies current run could only be explained as the act of a higher power.

Source: j-walkblog.com

You know who really knows how to party? Ultra-Christian ballplayers. Don’t believe me? A recent New York Times story reports that more and more teams are scheduling “faith nights”, which feature bands, giveaways and revival-style testimonials from players:

Third Coast Sports, a company in Nashville that says it specializes in church marketing and event planning for sports teams, has scheduled 70 this year in 44 cities, and many teams produce Faith Nights on their own.

They are about to become even bigger. This summer, the religious promotions will hit Major League Baseball. The Atlanta Braves are planning three Faith Days this season, the Arizona Diamondbacks one. The Florida Marlins have tentatively scheduled a Faith Night for September.

The religious promotions are spreading because they offer something for fans and for teams. Churches get discounted tickets to family-friendly evenings of music and sports with a Christian theme. And in return, they mobilize their vast infrastructure of e-mail and phone lists, youth programs and chaperones, and of course their bus fleets, to help fill the stands.

The Atlanta Braves will hold the first of their “faith days” this Sunday, June 4, featuring the characters from Veggie Tales, christian rock acts Aaron Shust and Matthew West and guest speaker John Smoltz. Later on this season, faith nights will feature guest speakers Chris Reitsma and Sid Bream.

Anybody who’s skeptical of just how much fun mixing baseball and Christianity can be needs look no further than last year’s all-star game, when Johnny Damon and Mike Piazza joined the members of Christian band Creed (minus former lead singer Scott Stapp) on stage during a pre-homerun derby performance. Damon and Piazza weren’t actually playing instruments or singing, but they played some serious air guitar.

And the Lord loves a good air guitar solo.

…………..Baseball……………….. Jesus…………………… Baseball Jesus…………

Carlos Beltran on his reluctant curtain call at Shea on Thursday:

“Like I say, at the beginning, I don’t feel like doing it, but I just put myself in the situation of what would God have done in a situation like that. You know, I’m a Christian guy, and after getting booed the first two days, and all of a sudden you come through and get a hit and all of a sudden they want you to go out in a curtain call, I put myself right there and I do believe God would have gone out.” – New York Post.

(Thanks Paul)