“A Grand Slam For God:
A Journey From
Baseball Star to Catholic Priest”
The author:
Fr. Burke Masters
The publishing info:
Word on Fire; 138 pages; $29.95
Released Aug. 14, 2023
The links:
The publishers website; the authors website; at Bookshop.org; at Powells.com; at Vromans.com; at MajestyChristianStore.com; at BetterWorldBooks.com; at Alibris.com; at BarnesAndNoble.com; at Amazon.com
The review in 90 feet or less
A phrase that the late Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully loved to use frequently comes to mind in a time of angst and confusion: If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans.
“That quote has been so much a part of me, I don’t know when it began,” Scully told me in a 2019 conversation. “Maybe as a child I heard a priest say it and it just stuck. It makes good sense. You know, we try to write our own script and it’s a mistake. There’s a script already written for us.”
Fr. Burke Masters seems to have a Masters degree in his concept.
In 1990, he was Burke Masters, Mississippi State senior second baseman. Soon to be a grand hero.
In the NCAA’s South Regional playoffs, on the Bulldogs’ home field at Starksville, Miss., the SEC champions trailed in the third-round game to top-seeded Florida State, 8-7, in the top of the ninth inning.
Masters, already 5-for-5 in the game, came up and worked the count to 3-and-1. He could pray for a walk to force in the tying run. But that’s not really what a hitter does, does he?
He lined the next pitch to left, clearing the fence for a grand slam to put his team ahead.
Two days later, the teams met again in the regional final, and MSU prevailed. On to the College World Series at Omaha, Neb., as a No. 5 seed, the Bulldogs were eventually eliminated by No. 1-ranked Stanford).
Masters’ feat has been voted the “top sports moment” in Mississippi State baseball history — a program that goes back to the early 1900s and has produced the likes of Buck Showalter, Will Clark, Bobby Thigpen, Rafael Palmeiro, Jonathan Papelbon and Hunter Renfroe.
When Masters writes in his book abot that moment, he says it “sealed my decision to make baseball my career.” That was reasonable. He had set a school record playing in 251 career games from 1987 to ’90. He’d find his way through the minor leagues. Maybe even play for his favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
Ten years before all this, his parents sent him to a Catholic middle school, a beleaguered eighth grader trying to figure things out. Five years after that moment, he was converting to Catholicism as a senior at a Providence Catholic High.
Master said a sister in his theology class gave him a bible and pointed him to the Gospel of Matthew. He went on a retreat. He had experiences during Mass he couldn’t explain. He had a girlfriend who accompanied him to church and led him discern a sudden desire to enter the priesthood.
He wondered: If God gave me the talents to play baseball, perhaps at a high level, why wouldn’t He allow me to get called to to the major leagues someday?
This is when the fog machine rolls up and the choir begins singing. There is a higher calling if you’re just quiet enough to listen.
In 2002, he was ordained as Fr. Burke Masters. Since then, he’s become the official team chaplain of the Chicago Cubs — the team he rooted against as a kid.
He’s got a better career path these days as a Catholic Cardinal helping to pick the next Pope than figuring out how to turn a double play at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Masters writes about how that grand-slam moment gave him some insight about why he went from passive to aggressive in the batter’s box.
“I was feeling good at the plate. The ball looked like a balloon coming toward me,” Masters said recently during a Zoom call gathering of those associated with the Catholic Athletes for Christ, which hosts Sunday Masses at Major League Baseball parks for players and stadium staff. “But the pitcher was having some control problems. I decided to take the pitch. If it was a ball, then the game was tied.
“That’s when this inner voice — I don’t know if it was God or what it was exactly — said, ‘Are you crazy?’ I called time and stepped out of the box. The voice said, ‘You’re hot. If he throws you a strike, swing at it.’
“I got back in the box, and I was so relaxed. The pitch looked like it was in slow motion.
“I hit maybe 15, 20 home runs while I was at State. Most of them barely made it over the fence. That’s the only one I ever hit that I knew was gone as soon as it left the bat.”
Fr. Burke talks about his life now and says his two greatest conversions were becoming Catholic and then becoming aligned with the Cubs.
“The second one was harder,” he admits. “The Lord has a great sense of humor.”
He also talks about how blessed he feels in this position. He became friends with tubs manager Joe Maddon in 2015. Maddon knew of Masters’ background and was appreciative of how priests had affected his life growing up in Pennsylvania.
During spring training, Maddon invited Fr. Burke to put on a uniform and join the team as it was preparing for what would be a magical 2016 World Series title season. Fr. Burke hesitated about trying to treat this as a tryout camp. He avoided the batting cage. He grabbed a glove and went on a jog.
“I’m in the outfield shagging balls with Kyle Hendricks; I’m looking out to see Miguel Montero, Anthony Rizzo … I figured they knew who I was and had seen me as a priest. But all of the sudden tears start rolling down my face. I know — there’s no crying in baseball. Why was I crying? It hit me that 7-year-old Burke had always said he’s be on a major-league baseball field. This was his dream. Now I’m living my dream, as a priest, and I get to do this. God brought it full circle. When you give it all to Me, watch what I do with it. He has blessed me tenfold.
“That’s when I thought: If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. That’s actually what I thought could be the name of the book. But I’m good with ‘A Grand Slam for God.’”
How it goes in the scorebook
A great Amen.
Here’s more joy for the ears:
You can look it up: More to ponder
== During 2024 Lent, Fr. Burke has daily readings and reflections posted on his X account. The photo of him was always with former Cubs manager Joe Maddon, wearing his “Try Not to Suck” T-shirt. An item one can still purchase at Walmart.com. Because of course you can.
== A review by the CatholicTelegraph.com: “An unlikely story of passion, piety and providence … (his story) is one of great grace, hardship, joy and trial … a raw, honest and beautiful look at the joys and challenges of following Christ.”
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