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Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
by Tom Kelley
While Barry Bonds chases "the Babe" and ultimately "Hammerin' Hank", there are other records that float out there in Major League Baseball. Many have tried but still no one has eclipsed the "Yankee Clipper", Joe Dimaggio (is there something that says you can only hold a record if you have a nickname? Maybe that's why Bonds is stuck on 713 right now), who holds the consecutive games with a hit record at 56. Which, by the way, was accomplished in one season so none of this carrying over stuff.
There are definitely some major records out there for hitters. My favorite is one that most people know nothing about. Yet it is one of those records that will probably never be broken. On May 16, 1933, Washington Senators (yes, there was a team in D. C. at one time in the American League) rookie third baseman Cecil Travis made his debut. When the dust settled on the diamond that day Washington had an 11-10 12 inning victory and Travis had etched his name into the history books.
What'd he do? He had five consecutive singles in his first five at bats in the Bigs. No one had ever done it before. And no one has done it since. The Senators pounded out 27 hits that day with first baseman Joe Kuhel getting the decisive RBI single (oddly enough, his fifth hit also) against the Cleveland Indians in the bottom of the 12th at now defunct Griffith Stadium. Was Travis a flash-in-the-pan? Not really. He went on to have rather stellar big league career amassing more than 1,500 hits in his time in the majors.
The thing about that record that makes it so hard to imagine someone breaking it is that each ball player only has one chance to do it. If they fail in their first at bat it's over. It's not like Dimaggio's record, which could be broken if some player were to get hot. It's right now. Either you start your career with five hits or you don't. Period. There is no slack cut, no grace extended. Ah. Grace. That is why God is not into records. Records cut you no grace. You have to go by the rules. One slip up and it's over. No slip ups and you have bragging rights. But not with grace.
Grace means God already got the hits for you and all you have to do is swing the bat for the rest of your life. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8, 9 That's the way God does it. He bypasses the record books and goes right to the heart of the matter; where will you spend eternity? Grace says that, in spite of our inefficiencies, we have the hope of eternal life. No 755 homerun barrier, no 56 consecutive game streak, not even five-for-five out of the gate. Just God and His grace. His Way.
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...He was the Minister of the Minorsville Christian Church located near Stamping Ground, KY.
...Becky and Tom have three children; John, single and in worship ministry in Nicholasville, Kentucky; Sean, married (Jennifer, elementary school teacher) with twins (Grace and Patrick, b.d. 10/31/04) and regional director of Papa John's Pizza in Central KY; Kara, married (Vince Taylor, prison guard) and working with Hospice East in Winchester, KY.
...Tom went to be with the Lord on November 13, 2009 after a lengthy battle with cancer. If you have been touched by Tom's writings please send an email to Tom's son at jkelley@catalystchristian.net
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