"Bowling Pin" Bat!

The New York Yankees launched their 2025 baseball season with a bang! They hit fifteen home runs in their three-game opener with the Milwaukee Brewers. On Saturday, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge blasted back-to-back homers to begin the game! Later, it was revealed that Goldschmidt and Bellinger were using a newly created bat (MLB approved!) that has been nicknamed, “The Torpedo Bat!”

Aaron Leanhardt, a former Yankee’s analyst, is credited with designing the bat that looks somewhat like a bowling pin with a big knobby handle and a barrel that is customized per the individual athlete’s preferences. This creation puts the bulk and weight of the wood at the end of the bat. The Yankees swept the series with Milwaukee and some of the Bronx Bombers could say it was because of this new piece of “baseball lumber!” Time will tell if this new offensive tool is the result of fact and science or just another passing fad. I do know by experience that baseball players are often superstitious!

Cody Bellinger Strikes Out
using Torpedo Bat!
gettyimages.com

I grew up in the era of wood. I know that college baseball athletes have proven that metal bats are more enduring and sometimes more effective. I used only wooden bats throughout my Little and Pony League years. As a teenager, and after saving up money from my part-time jobs, I was able to purchase my first Louisville Slugger! I loved that bat and felt like it made me a better hitter! Imagine how terribly sad I was on the day that one of my friends borrowed it and broke it into pieces after only one contact with the ball!

Baseball players refer to their bats in diverse ways: lumber, stick, the Beast or in my case, My Louisville! It’s interesting how a lathed piece of wood with a defining grain, protective staining, and a grip-enhancing knob at the end of it can become so personal! Even the smell of a good bat at the local sports store will take me back to those championship years of my youth when I played first and third base for the Little League Pirates! I know, I’m bragging!

Wood, trees, and lumber play a prominent role in the biblical story and have become reminders of creation, judgment, and salvation. It was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that tested the obedience of Adam and Eve at the beginning of beginnings in the Garden of Eden. Regrettably, they failed that test, and chose disobedience, This decision set in motion the fallenness of humanity and incurred God’s judgement.

Noah’s Ark was constructed with wood. This large boat became shelter for his family and the animals that would give humanity a fresh start after the flood subsided. Wood was used for the tent poles when the Tabernacle was constructed for those early wilderness worshippers. The Ark of the Covenant, a wooden chest overlayed with gold, would become the encasement for the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. And wood was used for the vertical beam and horizontal crossbeam that would become the means of Roman execution for the sinless Son of God at His crucifixion.

A favorite old hymn by George Bennard tells the story of how Christ’s death was on our behalf. “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, such a wonderful beauty I see; for ‘twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.” (Old Rugged Cross).

Israel’s King and poet, David, often celebrated with songs of Praise. Such was the occasion when Asaph and the Levites brought the Ark of God back to Jerusalem and placed it in the tent David had specially prepared for it. The King and the people rejoiced with singing that even invited all of creation, from the heavens to the sea, to participate, “Pass the word among the nations, ‘God reigns!’ Let Ocean, all teeming with life, bellow, let Field and all its creatures shake the rafters; then the trees in the forest will add their applause to all who are pleased and present before God – He’s on His way to set things right!” (1 Chronicles 16:31-34, MSG).

Let’s join everything that God has made and praise the Lord who reigns and rules over all! 

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,
active churchman and
doting grandparent.
Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com
©2018-2025 All rights reserved.
Serve by Design. mjkministries.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Pray and Move Your Feet!"

Image
There is an old West African proverb: “When you pray, move your feet.” I have said something similar in a little different way: “Be careful in your praying. You may be (and often are!) the answer to your own prayer.” Others see this almost as a command to “Put feet to your prayers!” What do we mean by these various sayings? Prayer is not just an important spiritual discipline for the Christian, it often leads to an “in the flesh” response and connection between the pray-er and the prayer request. Prayer and Action! pngimg.com While prayer is one of the spiritual disciplines, this doesn't mean it is just an academic, theoretical or forensic exercise! I have heard it said, "God inhabits the praises of His people." This suggests that it blesses God to hear the praise of His people in prayer. I believe that the Lord gets an even greater blessing when our praying is “incarnated” in devotion, commitment and service for Him. Our best efforts at praying involve action plans to ...
Read more

Uncle Billy Moments!

Image
Photograph courtesy of Paramount Pictures Many of you will remember the beloved uncle who partnered with Jimmy Stewart’s character in the Christmas favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life. Uncle Billy was absent-minded and habitually wrapped a "reminder string" around his finger so he wouldn’t forget things. There is that pitiful exchange between the uncle and his nephew George Bailey. After a costly lapse in judgement in which $8,000 falls into the villainous Potter's hands, George, fearing the bank examiner's reprisals, called Uncle Billy, “A silly, stupid old fool!" Indeed, it was a sad occasion for the Bailey Building and Loan at the cusp of the Great Depression when that amount of money in today's dollars would exceed $114,000 in value. This was for me an unforgettable (and I use that word carefully) confrontation by the two characters in the film. I had an Uncle Billy moment last week. One that I am still embarrassed about. I absentmindedly left my bank ...
Read more

Shaped by Scripture!

Image
Last Sunday, Monique and I were guests in another church. I preached at a pastor friend’s retirement celebration service. We also attended a small group study for seniors before worship. It was a blessing to look around the table during that Sunday School class and see so many open Bibles and even a few digital tablets placed in front of those participants. While they used a denominational booklet as the curriculum, the Bible was still their primary focus during the lesson. "By your words I can see where I'm going." Clip Art: stock.adobe.com The Message: Psalm 119:105a I have heard two good sermons lately where the subject of the Bible has come up. One was at our church recently during the Iron Sharpens Iron conference. It looked to me that the crowd was at full capacity on the ground floor and balcony that accommodates well over a thousand people not counting the platform musicians. There were ninety churches represented, and forty-eight of those churches brought ten ...
Read more