The name "Pete Rose" tends to bring several different things to mind such as:
- The Hit King
- Lifetime ban from baseball
- The Big Red Machine
- Former USP Marion Inmate
Pete was a complicated character who most certainly left an impact on the game of baseball.
If you watch any news story or clip about Pete, there is always one highlight they show.
In the 1970 All-Star game, Pete was rounding third and heading home. Ray Fosse from the Oakland A’s was playing catcher. Fosse was blocking the plate and Pete bowled over Fosse and scored the run.
This is probably the most famous collision in baseball history.
Rose went in hard, dislodged the ball from Fosse’s glove and Fosse laid injured on the ground.
Fosse’s career was never the same after that, and Rose was often criticized for the play.
There were consequences of Fosse blocking the plate and Rose colliding with him.
Our devotions for this evening took us back to Daniel 6. The topic for the evening was:
“Godly Exiles Expect Consequence When Kingdoms Collide “
Daniel was faithfully serving King Darius and was now the second in charge in the kingdom. Unfortunately, this didn’t sit well with the other officials. They hated Daniel and they set him up.
Daniel’s righteous life was colliding with the evil intentions of the officials. They put a plan in motion to get Daniel killed by some hungry lions.
Chances are as American Christians, we aren’t going to be fed to some lions for our beliefs but we will face consequences for being followers of Jesus. During our team devotion time we talked about what this looks like for us as American Christians living in 2026 and how this should affect our lives and how we pray.
Thanks to the “off day” and the convenience of having a hotel nearby the prison, I got lots of good sleep on this trip but I woke up a few times to the sound of crashing thunder outside. We got lots and lots of rain overnight.
We woke up and geared up for a day of softball with some backup plans in the event that we had to move indoors.
We ate a quick hotel breakfast and loaded up all of our gear for the day into the vans. We arrived at FCI Marion on time. FCI Marion was formerly USP Marion which was one of the biggest “Supermax” prisons in the country. John Gotti, Victor Bout, and the previously mentioned, Pete Rose all spent time there.
Pete did six months on the camp side of the prison. The story that was passed down was that Pete really didn’t play but he was the coach of one of the teams. He would hit infield practice to the other men who played softball during the recreation time.
We went to the camp side first. Typically the camp side of a prison is lower security and has guys who are close to going home. The field on the camp side had taken quite a bit of rain overnight so we had to “invert” the field and play most of the game in the outfield. We played two games back to back and won both of them fairly easily. After the games, we went into their gym and shared the Gospel. Rob Brown from the Northeast team shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and how the Lord used missions and some medical issues to use him for ministry. Jim Jefferson shared the Gospel. JJ always does a really good job preaching with clarity and passion.
After our ministry time, we moved to the FCI side of the prison. We got to enjoy a meal in the staff dining area before heading out to the yard. This was a big prison yard and they were really excited to have an outside group come in. I had several guys tell me that they had never seen anything like this during their time in prison and how special it was that guys took a day off to come see them.
The crowd was wound up and were most certainly engaged in the game.
The game was close but we pulled away after the first few innings and cruised to an easy victory.
During the game, I had a few good conversations with some guys on the first base side.
In between games, Butch Smith shared his testimony and Wayne Errig shared the Gospel. One hiccup that we had to deal with was the sound system didn’t work but the crowd was respectful, gracious, and quiet. They moved in closer so that they could hear the words that Butch and Wayne were saying.
After the ministry time, we started the second game. We came out of the gate strong and won the game easily.
After the game, we met with the guys on the pitcher’s mound and handed out some award books to the umpires and team MVPs.
Overall on the day at Marion, we handed out close to 200 Gospels of John and saw 25 men make professions of faith at the camp and the FCI.
We left the prison and went back to our hotel to get cleaned up. We went to a local Texas Roadhouse for dinner. This was a fun meal and we got to share several stories from years gone by from the teams across the country.
That evening we had our devotion time. I really appreciate the time that Bruce Buri spent on the devotions and the time we spent together in Daniel 6.
A few days after we got home, we received an encouraging note from the staff at FCI Marion:
” I just wanted to take a second to thank you both for the event on July 10th. The men you sent did a phenomenal job like I have never seen before. Hundreds of inmates turned out and for one afternoon FCI Marion did not feel like a prison. In my 20 years, I have not experienced anything like that. I try not to reflect on many things I've seen in prison because it keeps me up at night. It is great to have something so positive that I can reflect on now. I have attached the article and photos we submitted for our website. Thanks again and god bless.
And this was the communication shared in the prison:On Friday, July 10, the Saints Prison Ministry softball team stepped onto the field at FCI Marion and SCP Marion. Facing off against our inmates in spirited games of softball, the visiting team brought much more than just athletic competition—they brought encouragement, hope, and ministry.
The energy on the fields were matched by the enthusiasm in the stands, as inmates who weren't playing lined up to cheer on the teams. Many inmates were praying with the Saints players and reading scriptural literature that was available to all inmates. It was a day defined by high spirits, mutual respect, and positive connection. The inmates expressed deep appreciation for the visit and noted that they are hopeful of seeing more events like this in the future, leaving everyone involved with great memories of a game well played.
