When the Gentle Giant strode to the mound on that afternoon on May 15th, 1918, he didn’t know what was in store, but he expected that he had his work cut out for him. The White Sox were the defending World Series Champions and were likely to give him trouble even without “Shoeless” Joe Jackson in the lineup. Jackson was out working in a shipyard to support the World War One war effort—and his family. In those days Major League players couldn’t afford to live only on their earnings from baseball, a fact that will result in five members of the White Sox starting lineup being banned from baseball the following year for taking gamblers’ money to lose the World Series in the famous “Black Sox” scandal. But all of them were on the field today, and so the big pitcher went to work.
Don’t let the grind get to you.
Fastball after fastball, the Big Swede sat down batter after batter, inning after inning, putting up 0 after 0 on the scoreboard until 18 of them looked down at him. 35 altogether if you count the opponent pitcher’s Lefty Williams’ zeros. The opposing pitcher matched him inning for inning, both men pitching a shutout in the equivalent of two complete regular games.
Finally in the bottom of the 18th inning, Walter Johnson had had enough and with one man on 1st and one out he smacked his only hit of the game (pitchers used to hit in the American League). It was a long single, but it advanced his teammate to third. By then, though, the Sox pitcher had also had enough, because he uncorked a wild pitch to the next batter, allowing the runner to score from third, winning the game for Johnson and the Senators. It was an extraordinary game in which the losing pitcher went 17 ⅓ innings and gave up only one run on eight hits. Walter Johnson still has more career shutouts than anyone, but he only got credit for one on this day, though he pitched for 18 innings.
Imagine what it must have been like for Johnson to get up off the bench inning after inning, sitting back down again inning after inning, hoping that someone would finally score a run for him, and doing it 18 times. Not only Johnson, either. There were no substitutions at all in this game, everyone who started was playing when it ended. It strikes me as being a lot like deployment. We’re in the middle of another straits transit and there are several more to come, more watches to stand, more inspections and maintenance to do, day after day the same thing, but don’t let the grind get you down. Another interesting thing about Johnson’s 18-inning shutout is that in spite of all 18 players playing all 18 innings there wasn’t even one error committed by either team.
Just like they did, you can stay sharp if you take your breaks when you can get them and make them count. Have a plan for taking care of yourself—and be deliberate—or it won’t happen. Let your chain of command know what you’re doing so that they can support you. Make sure that you take care of yourself mentally, physically, socially, AND spiritually. We may not be able to pitch 18 innings, but if we take care of ourselves—and each other—we can finish this deployment without committing any errors.
LET US PRAY
Heavenly King, Fountain of wisdom and tower of strength,
You are the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
You will not grow tired or weary;
Your understanding is beyond searching out.
You gives power to the faint and increase the strength of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;
they will mount up with wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not faint.
Almighty God, be our strength always, now and forever, and to the ages of ages.
AMEN
An Orthodox Priest Abroad 