Rick Wilkins had a modest baseball career.
He spent most of his career with the Cubs organization which actually included a stop with the Peoria Chiefs in 1988. Despite one big season with the 1993 Cubs, he is a career backup catcher that has been forgotten by most of baseball.
Hitting 30 home runs was his biggest highlight of that 1993 season but there is one other play during his Cubs career that helped me fall in love with the game a little more.
Wilkins was catching and there was a play at the plate. Wilkins caught the ball at the same time a runner was colliding with him at home plate. Wilkins absorbed the hit and the runner was called out for the third out of the inning. Wilkins then proceeded to get up by himself and spike the ball at home plate before walking back into the dugout.
(I tried really hard to find a video or at least a mention of this somewhere on the internet but the memory of watching the game on WGN channel 9 is still fresh in my mind!)
That moment cemented my respect for Wilkins as a ballplayer and my appreciation for catchers whenever there is a play at the plate.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to catch one inning and there was indeed a play at the plate. The ball and the runner arrived at the same time and there was a big league collision at the plate.
I remember catching the ball and getting my glove up to tag the runner. The only thing I remember after that was being on my back and looking at the sky and seeing a cloud that looked a little bit like Elvis.
When I realized that I was still playing softball, I checked my glove and saw that I was still holding the ball and that the umpire had called the runner out. I was still in a slight amount of shell shock in the moment so spiking the ball like Rick Wilkins didn't cross my mind until we were almost halfway home.
Plays like that are some of the things that make baseball fun. It is such a blessing that God has allowed me to participate in a ministry that I can use a love of the game to tell others about what His Son did on the cross so that we can know Him.
Traditionally our travels take us East or South, but our journey found us traveling North and West to Galesburg, IL. We met up at Calvary Baptist Bible Church and packed up the van for the day. We prayed for the day ahead before departing. We arrived in Galesburg on time and enjoyed a Hardee's breakfast before going to the prison. The Hardee's breakfast was really enjoyable as a couple of us tried the Hot Honey Chicken Biscuits which I highly, highly recommend. We had some time to talk as a team over breakfast. After we were done eating, we made our way to the prison. This was our first ever visit to Hill CC and the staff was excited to see us make the trip and the check in process went really smoothly. We made our way out to the prison yard and got some throws in before the game started.
The first game went well, and we coasted to an easy win. David Stalter shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and how the Lord helped him through a season when he got hurt and was no longer able to play baseball. Kyle Krall shared the Gospel. We started a second game and we coasted again to a big win. We circled up on the mound to hand out some award books to the umpires and team MVPs. Kris Mettelmann did the closing circle and challenged the men to consider the Gospel that was preached to them.
We then left the prison to go to a local Culver's for lunch. The weather was pretty nice out so digesting a butter-burger and some cheese curds was actually something we could do!
We came back and the second team was starting to warm up. These guys were a little tougher and gave us a run for our money! The game went back and forth. We were tied up after 7 innings. Some of the guys were going to get called back so we broke for our ministry time. Brent Gerber shared his testimony and Kris Mettelmann shared the Gospel.
We were able to finish up the game. We batted first and scored 7 runs and pulled out the win. We played the fourth game of the day and won that one a little easier.
We circled up on the mound and prayed with the men one more time before departing for the day.
During our time at Hill CC, we handed out 76 Gospels and saw 14 men make professions of faith.
After we left Hill, we stopped for a team meal at Jimmy's Pizza in Galesburg. It was fun to have that team time and enjoying some pizza after a long day of softball.
Our next visit is July 18th at Southwestern CC, however, there is a Crusade next week in Southern Illinois that I am going on. I will be sending out some information about that soon!
Thank you for praying for our team yesterday!
I am thrilled that I get to serve the Lord on the prison softball fields!
