Daily Prayer, 23 June

Ray Morgan took ball four and trotted to first. Babe Ruth had thrown the pitch and did not agree at all with home plate umpire Brick Owens’ assessment of its location relative to the strike zone. Ruth lodged his complaint quite vehemently and punctuated his objection by punching Owens in the head. The umpire promptly tossed him out of the game. Ruth left with a runner on first and hadn’t gotten a single out.

The pitcher that took his place on the mound for the Red Sox was a big right-hander from North Carolina named Ernie Shore. Thinking that he might have been forgotten in all of the brouhaha, Morgan tried to steal second, but was caught by the Red Sox catcher’s throw for the first out of the game. He was the last baserunner of the game for the Washington Senators. Shore set down the next 26 batters in order. Not one man reached while he was on the mound, and the Red Sox won 4-0.

Ernie Shore had pitched the effective equivalent of a perfect game, a feat so rare it has only been done 23 times in the 143 years of Major League Baseball history. Since he hadn’t started the game, however, and even though many of his contemporaries considered it a perfect game, Shore only gets credit officially for a combined no-hitter. It never seemed to bother him, though, and Shore’s no-hitter emerged as one of the most memorable events of the season, aided, no doubt, by the drama of the opening frame.

Ernie Shore played only two more seasons in the major leagues, after which he served as sheriff for his home county, Forsyth, NC. There he led the effort to build the stadium that now serves as the home field for the Wake Forest University baseball team and was named in his honor when it opened in 1956. (The stadium’s name was changed in 2016 to honor a donor to the school’s athletics department.)

You can tell that Ernie Shore had a positive attitude in his life because of his accomplishments. Henry Ford once said “If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you are right,” and what he meant is what the XO is fond of saying, that “attitude determines direction.” Our attitude is like a rudder that we use to determine the direction of our life, either towards positive ends or negative ones.

Like a rudder, attitude can be changed, and it can steer you where you want to go, so long as you know in which direction that is. We can change our attitudes from negative to positive by changing our thinking, thereby changing the way we respond to family, friends, and co-workers. And we can best do that if we are grounded and deeply rooted in the grace and love of God. We might not pitch any perfect games, but at least we can combine for the no-hitter—even if God throws most of the pitches.

LET US PRAY

Precious Lord, Guardian, and Friend, it is from Your strength that we grow in strength; it is from You that we find wisdom and solace in life. It is in fellowship with You that we find life’s meaning and become aware of our own limitations. Thank you for taking all of our cares, our worries, and our ups and downs upon yourself. Thank you for hearing our prayers and blessing us with Your strength, wisdom, and peace. Calm the storms of our lives both here and at home, for You are holy always, now and forever, and to the ages of ages.

AMEN