Intentional Walk: An Inside Look at the Faith That Drives the St. Louis Cardinals - Softcover

Rains, Rob

 
9780849964589: Intentional Walk: An Inside Look at the Faith That Drives the St. Louis Cardinals
Softcover
ISBN 10: 084996458X ISBN 13: 9780849964589
Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2013

Synopsis

An inside look at the faith that guides the all-stars.

The St.Louis Cardinals have long been one of the most successful franchises in themajor leagues. They have won 11 World Series titles and some of the most famousplayers in the history of the game have worn the storied “Birds on the Bat”uniform.

While thaton-field success has been well documented, IntentionalWalk is the first book which goes beyond the story of what happens on thefield to take an in-depth look at the men inside the Cardinal uniforms, andexamine how their strong Christian faith is one of the driving forces behindtheir success.

Intentional Walk features the stories of AdamWainwright, David Freese, Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, JasonMotte and other members of the 2012 Cardinals, written as those players and therest of the team tried to repeat the 2011 world championship. The book talksabout how they became Christians and offers their testimony about what it meansfor them to have God play such a prominent role in their lives.

Playing forfirst-year manager Mike Matheny, a strong Christian as well, these men talkabout their success and failure, about the challenges that come from playingbaseball at the highest level, and how thankful and blessed they are to havethat God-given ability. In the end, however, what is far more important to themis their life-long relationship they have established with Jesus Christ.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Rob Rains is the author of 31 books, mostly on baseball and many about the St. Louis Cardinals. His list of biographies or autobiographies of Cardinals includes Tony La Russa, Albert Pujols, Mark McGwire, Jack Buck, Red Schoendienst, and Ozzie Smith. He is a lifetime member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a lifetime member of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He also is the cohost of a daily radio talk show in St. Louis and an adjunct professor at Webster University.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

INTENTIONAL WALK

An Inside Look at the Faith That Drives the St. Louis Cardinals

By ROB RAINS

Thomas Nelson

Copyright © 2013 Rob Rains
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8499-6458-9

Contents

Prologue...................................................................ix
One David Freese...........................................................1
Two Adam Wainwright........................................................13
Three Rip Rowan............................................................27
Four Lance Berkman.........................................................33
Five Matt Carpenter........................................................47
Six The Prospects: James Ramsey and Kolten Wong............................57
Seven Rick Horton..........................................................69
Eight Barret Browning......................................................81
Nine Kyle McClellan........................................................91
Ten Trevor Rosenthal.......................................................101
Eleven Skip Schumaker......................................................111
Twelve Mitchell Boggs......................................................123
Thirteen Jason Motte.......................................................133
Fourteen Matt Holliday.....................................................143
Fifteen Jake Westbrook.....................................................155
Sixteen Carlos Beltran.....................................................165
Seventeen The Postseason...................................................179
Eighteen Mike Matheny......................................................191
Acknowledgments............................................................205
About the Author...........................................................207

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

DAVID FREESE


The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside thestill waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness forhis name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fearno evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thouanointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and Iwill dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.—Psalm 23 KJV


The night before the Cardinals played their opening game of the2012 regular season on April 4, the first-ever game at MarlinsPark in Miami, a visiting reporter walked into a well-known restaurantto have dinner. It was not surprising to him that some ofthe Cardinals were there. What he was astounded by, however,was that a dozen of the players were there having dinner, together,at the same table.

Despite having covered baseball for about thirty years, thiswas not something the reporter was used to seeing, and it spokevolumes to him about the 2012 Cardinals, the closeness of theplayers, and the chemistry and the bond that connected this team.

David Freese was one of the players there that night, alongwith many of the team's veterans, including Matt Holliday, AdamWainwright, and Chris Carpenter.

"A lot of the veterans get together and they drag me along,"Freese has said. "It's a free meal."

Freese, of course, may never have to buy a meal in St. Louisagain after his heroics in the 2011 postseason, which includedhitting the walk-off home run in the eleventh inning of game six,perhaps one of the most dramatic moments in World Series history.

There was more involved on that April night, however, thanthe fact that Freese didn't have to pay for his steak and lobster—theteam's players try to get together for dinner at least once onevery road trip during the season, and as many players who wantto come are welcome.

"It's a great time for fellowship," Freese said. "The coolestthing about this group is our fellowship together. That's a bigword in our clubhouse. What I hear is that it is very unusual inbaseball, but what we have here with our spiritual faith is a goodthing. It keeps you grounded. It keeps you on the right path.

"You definitely can identify with what's important in theworld when you step in this clubhouse."

This is particularly important for Freese, who is aware of acouple of points in his life, both in baseball and outside the game,when he could have gone in a much different direction, had heallowed himself to continue down a bad path.

Continuing down the wrong road definitely would have ledFreese to a different place than Busch Stadium, in his hometownof St. Louis, where his performance during one magical Octobermade him a hometown hero as well as an overnight national andinternational celebrity.

Appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and othertelevision shows followed his selection as the MVP of both theNational League Championship Series against the MilwaukeeBrewers and the World Series against the Texas Rangers. Anybodyand everybody wanted a piece of Freese, who claims one of hismost chilling moments came in November 2011, when he was onthe field for the Missouri–Texas football game and received a prolongedstanding ovation from more than seventy thousand fans.

Freese knew then, and knows now, that none of it would havebeen possible had he not made a dramatic decision in December2009 to turn his life over to Christ. He had just been involved in asecond off-field incident, which was embarrassing to himself, hisfamily, and the Cardinals. After a heartfelt talk with his parents,he made an unannounced trip to the stadium to talk with generalmanager John Mozeliak, offering a sincere apology and a pledgethat it would not happen again.

Then the twenty-six-year-old Freese went home and walkedinto his bedroom. He was drained and exhausted. "I didn't havemuch left," Freese said.

He sat down and prayed.

"I really kind of surrendered myself," Freese recalled. "I said,'God, here I am. Do with me what You will. I'm Yours.' I look backat that now and realize that was a very big moment in my life."

At the time, Freese had only played seventeen games in themajor leagues with the Cardinals. He had not been a high bonusbaby, having been drafted in the ninth round by the San DiegoPadres out of South Alabama in June 2006. The Cardinals hadobtained him the previous winter, in Mozeliak's first trade as generalmanager, for outfielder Jim Edmonds.

The Cardinals believed Freese had a chance to become aregular third baseman in the majors, but only if he could straightenup his personal life and also avoid frequent injuries. It was shortlyafter making the decision to turn his life over to Christ that Freesejust "happened" to run into Matheny at a charity bowling eventin St. Louis, organized by former major leaguer Brian Boehringer.

"It was a great time to run into Mike Matheny," Freese said.Matheny at the time was living in St. Louis and working as a specialinstructor in the Cardinals' farm system. Freese had been afan of Matheny's a decade earlier, often watching from the upperdeck as Matheny played for the Cardinals.

"He pulled me aside and talked to me for about twentyminutes," Freese said. "That was when our relationship reallycatapulted. We went on from there, and it has been good thingsever since."

Freese knows now that the meeting was not accidental. Afterhis meeting and conversation with Matheny, Freese began tonotice a gradual change in his life.

"There were people who started entering my life after that,"Freese said, "and that's when I really started to notice that Godhad a plan ... that He's got an idea for you. I can sit down rightnow and tell you that ten years ago I probably had five hundredmore friends, but the friends I have now mean more to me. Therelationships run deeper."

Freese knows that because of the people God put into his life,his life has been changed.

"I don't know what would have happened [without Christ inmy life]," Freese said. "This world is crazy. You don't know whatcan happen. I can tell you right now I wouldn't be in this position,personally or professionally.

"Sometimes I get caught up in saying, why didn't I find Godearlier in my life, and I know that's just not God's plan sometimes.That's frustrating for me to think about, but what I havegone through has put me in this position, not just professionallybut personally. The relationships I've built, the sense of joy I haveinternally compared to ten years ago—that's appealing to me."

That December 2009 incident—the wake-up call—that joltedFreese was not the first time he had wondered about his baseballfuture.

Years earlier, after his senior year at Lafayette High School insuburban St. Louis, after earning All-State honors and receivingmultiple scholarship offers, Freese decided baseball was no longerfun. He wanted to go to the University of Missouri, but he wantedto, in his words, "be a regular kid" and not have his college lifedictated by the team's schedule.

For the first time in his life, Freese did not play baseball thatyear. He joined a fraternity, and enjoyed his break from the dailygrind of practice, training, and games. He did not think about itat the time, but Freese knows and understands now that makingthat decision, one he said only his parents supported, was also apart of God's plan for his life.

"If I had kept playing, it would have been because I was listeningto everybody else," he said. "At that time, it was nice to beselfish and stubborn. You don't want to be those things, but atthat time it was what I needed to be, especially when I can lookback and see where I am now."

Sometime before the next school year began, Freese had achange of heart. He doesn't remember it being because of onespecific incident, but he came to the conclusion that he missedplaying baseball. The year away had forced him to reassess alot of priorities in his life. Instead of returning to Missouri, heenrolled at a local junior college in the St. Louis area, MeramecCommunity College, and started working harder than he hadever worked at the game before. If he was going to play baseball,he wanted to succeed at the highest level.

Freese knows now that the inspiration behind that decisionwas God-driven. "It was just something I felt like I needed to do,"he said. "I needed to play baseball. I needed to find out what Iwas all about. Honestly, when I started back playing, I was notentirely sure that was what I wanted to do. It took the two years atMeramec to realize that I love this game."

Two good years at the junior-college level led to the scholarshipoffer from South Alabama, where Freese hit .414 and soonfound himself signing a contract to play in the Padres organization.

He spent the 2006 and 2007 seasons playing in Eugene,Oregon; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Lake Elsinore, California, andwas pleased with how his career was progressing. That Decemberhe was having dinner with friends at a Burger King in suburbanLos Angeles when his cell phone rang.

Freese saw that the call was coming from the St. Louis area,but he didn't recognize the number, so he let it go to voice mail.When he checked the message moments later, the caller identifiedhimself as John Mozeliak, the general manager of the Cardinals,who said he was calling to welcome Freese to the organization.

Freese thought it was one of his friends pulling a prank onhim. But before he could figure out who it could be, his phonerang again. He took the call, from the San Diego area, and quicklylearned that the first call had not been a prank. He really had beentraded to the Cardinals.

After that reality set in, Freese called home to tell his motherthe news. She, like her son, thought it was a joke until he convincedher otherwise.

"I can't tell you everything she said, but she definitely didn'tbelieve it," Freese said.

Freese made the jump from the Class A California League toTriple-A Memphis in 2008 and had a big year, hitting .306 with26 homers and 91 RBI. It looked as if the Cardinals had foundtheir third baseman of the future, perhaps beginning as soon as2009. That was what Freese believed as well, but he soon foundout, again, that God had a different idea.

Driving on an ice-covered road one morning in January 2009,Freese's car slid off the road and veered into a ditch. Freese sufferedinjuries to both lower legs, leaving him on crutches when heshould have been going through his final training before headingto Florida and the start of spring training.

That was the beginning of two injury-filled seasons forFreese, who played only seventeen games for the Cardinals in2009 and sixty-four more at three minor league levels. He underwentthree different operations on both ankles in the span ofsixteen months, denying him the chance to play when he shouldhave been coming into his prime seasons. Then, in December2009, came the incident that really forced Freese to reevaluatewhere he was in his life, and he ended up in his bedroom, askingGod for help.

The following spring, Freese knew his life was about to change.

"I firmly believe that God puts things in front of you for a reason,"Freese said then. "Sometimes it may not be the best thing inthe world, but it's an important test. How I rebound is important.How I rebound, that's how I will be viewed. So far, I'm doing great.I'm real positive, and I'm as confident and ready as I've ever been."

He was in the starting lineup for the Cardinals on openingday in 2010, but Freese should have realized his recovery, bothspiritually and physically, was not going to be that easy. A bonebruise on his right ankle sent him to the disabled list in June fortwo months. Then, playing in his first rehab game, the ankle gaveway again, leading to another season-ending injury.

"I definitely didn't make it easy on myself numerous times,"Freese said. "You can sit back and think for a while on things Ihave had to deal with, but you keep plugging away."

All of those efforts finally paid off in a major way when hebecame the postseason hero in 2011, leading the Cardinals totheir eleventh world championship. All that success, however,only set up the next challenge for Freese—to try to put it allbehind him as the 2012 season began.

His new manager, Matheny, was confident that Freese wasready for the pressure.

"I know that, with the humble person and player that he is,all the attention really was not what he was hoping for because herealizes he still has a lot to prove in this game," Matheny said, "notnecessarily to us, but to himself. I think he knows he wants to bea better defensive player. I know that he wants to put together amore consistent season, and he wants his body to do what it willallow him to do out there as much as possible.

"It's not as if David Freese is content with what has happenedand now he is just going to cash in his chips. He's very motivated.He's excited about 2012."

Freese was in the fifth spot in the batting order for opening dayin Miami, and he came up in the bottom of the first inning withtwo outs and runners on second and third. Facing Josh Johnson,he calmly lined a single to left, driving in the first two runs of theseason and leading the Cardinals to a 4–1 victory. Freese finishedthe day with three hits.

He did not downplay the possibility of the 2011 playoff andWorld Series success carrying over into the new season.

"The playoffs can do wonders for you—learning how to keepyour composure and not to get too anxious," Freese said. "If youembrace it and soak in all those postseason experiences, they definitelycan help you. You can't run from anything. This game willeat you up if you run from it."

Freese's efforts helped assure that Matheny won his firstregular-season game as a manager, and he was one of the ringleadersas the players presented Matheny with the game ball, then showeredhim with bottles of water while he was standing in the hallwayoutside his office.

"It was nice to get Mike that first win," Freese said. "In theback of our minds, we wanted to give him that first one rightaway.... He's a special person and he deserved this as soon aspossible."

The win began a good stretch for both Freese and theCardinals. By the end of April, in his first twenty games of the season,Freese had hit 5 homers, driven in 20 runs, and had a .333batting average. The team was 14–8 in April, and on the morningof May 2, had a four-and-a-half-game lead in the National LeagueCentral.

Then came May, and a .211 average, which hit its rock-bottompoint on May 20, when, during a Sunday night game at Los Angeles,Freese struck out in all four of his at-bats. He swung and missed oneight pitches.

Freese had always been a player who handled the highs prettywell in his career and life but had struggled with the lows. As theteam returned home, he was definitely at a low point.

Matheny gave him two days off for a mental break. Freese celebratedhis return to the lineup with a two-run homer but tried totake it in stride as just another game during a long season.

"Sometimes you get in that box and you want to be Superman,"Freese said. "That's not going to help you out. You have to staywith your plan and try to execute.

"With that said, you're going to have ups and downs. I thinkthere are a lot of people out there that don't understand that. Butin this clubhouse, we know what a season is like and what thegame can do to you. You just have to grind it out."

Trying to even out the lows has been a challenge for Freese.

"The lows get me," he said. "Faith gets kicked in, and I wish Iwas better at that. I know the more you invest in God, the easierthe lows become. I think you become stronger. You push throughstuff more. When God is inside you, things are easier to deal with.He's going to give you stuff you can handle."

Freese attributes his ability to handle the highs to his parents,who raised him in a Christian environment, something he appreciatesnow more than he did then.

"I went to church, but probably more on authority than onmy choice," Freese said. "I appreciate the fact that my parents aredeep in faith. I'm young in faith compared to a lot of people.

"I've had good fortune in my life, to be sure. I had a goodchildhood. Things have happened that have taught me to behumble. I've learned that tangible things are not what life is allabout. If the word humble is not in your dictionary, it is going tofind you quick."

Freese rebounded from the low of May with another .300month in June, and in early July, as he was about to walk into theteam's weekly Bible study, he found Matheny waiting in the hallwayto deliver the news—in front of his teammates—that Freesehad won the fan vote for the final spot on the National LeagueAll-Star team.

"I wanted to let his teammates experience that moment too,"Matheny said. "You stack his numbers up and he's deserving. I'mjust excited to see him get that because I imagine the first [AllStargame] is going to be extra special."

(Continues...)


(Continues...)
Excerpted from INTENTIONAL WALK by ROB RAINS. Copyright © 2013 by Rob Rains. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Thomas Nelson
Publication date
2013
Language
English
ISBN 10 
084996458X
ISBN 13 
9780849964589
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
240