“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord…” (2 Timothy 1:7-8)
Do you remember Bobby Richardson? If you’re one of my younger readers, you’ve probably never heard of him.
Bobby Richardson played second base for the New York Yankees. He made the American League All-Star team seven times, won a World Series Most Valuable Player award, and helped the Yankees help themselves to seven league pennants and three world series championships.
When I was a kid, every second baseman wanted to be Bobby Richardson when we took on the names of our favorite major leaguers in the “pretend” seventh game of the World Series. He was the epitome of what a second baseman should be.
Interestingly, it’s not baseball that has defined the life of Bobby Richardson. When he joined the New York Yankee organization nearly 44 years ago, he was asked what he would do if his dream to be a big league baseball player didn’t come true.
“I’ve thought about preaching,” he told the reporter.
And boy has he ever preached. Baseball gave Richardson the opportunity to talk about a lot more than baseball. He, along with pro football player Bill Glass and baseball players Jay Kendall and Al Worthington, was one of professional sports first athletes to public speak up about his Christian faith.
Richardson has been the invited to give his testimony at five Billy Graham Crusades. He’s preached in some of the largest churches in the Country, but he has also shared the pulpit with pastors of some of the smallest churches around.
“There are a lot of different vocations, a lot of different things people do,” Richardson once said. “But the most important is to know, love, and walk daily with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Richardson’s decision to respond to God’s call and stand up has made a difference for Christ. “When we were playing, it was so uncommon to find one Christian on a team (who would speak up for Jesus),” he recalled. “Now every team has a (chapel service), and they average over 15 in attendance per team. They also have Bible studies, and they are discipling them in the off-season.”
So what’s Richardson’s most memorable salvation story? That’s easy. Shortly before his death in the summer of 1995, Mickey Mantle telephoned Richardson at 5 o’clock one morning and asked him to visit him at his hospital room in Dallas.
Richardson boarded the first plane for Dallas that he could find and when he arrived at Mantle’s hospital room, a smiling Mantle said, “Bobby, I want to tell you I’ve trusted Jesus as my Savior.”
Richardson had tried for years to get Mantle to listen to the Gospel message. He was delighted to hear the good news, but was not willing to throw caution to the wind. “Let be sure, Mickey,” he said, as he pulled out his Bible and went over the Plan of Salvation.
“In the end, Mickey quoted John 3:16,” Richardson remembered. “He had a real peace, and said he was ready to go.”
You just never know the seeds that are planted when you’re willing to share Jesus with a friend. Bobby Richardson told Mickey Mantle about Jesus over thirty-five years earlier. Mantle wasn’t listening, but he heard it all right. And God didn’t give up on Richardson’s decision to step forward and let a baseball great like Mickey Mantle know that he didn’t really have the world by its tail.
We all have our Mickey Mantles: Co-workers, golf partners, fishing pals, next door neighbors, who for whatever reason, are a markedly better at the game of life than we are. Why are we so reluctant to introduce them to the best that life has to offer?
It just doesn’t make sense. Does it?
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