but it’s officially Spring in my book.

Now this is a story that I just HAD to blog about, as it combines two of my favorite things, the Catholic Faith and baseball:

MLB prospect retires to pursue priesthood

Grant Desme entered the 2009 season with an injury-prone past.

The A’s prized prospect exited the season with a head-turning presence, accompanied by a bat that produced 31 home runs and a speedy 6-foot-2 frame that stole 40 bases in Class A ball — making him the only player in Minor League Baseball to enjoy a 30-30 campaign.

An exceptional performance and MVP honors in the Arizona Fall League followed, so surely Desme was close to getting a call, most assumed — if not for a trip to The Show, then at least for an invitation to Spring Training.

Yet, Desme insists he’d already received the call long before his final at-bat in the fall came and went — the one that would take him to bigger and better places.

It just so happens it wasn’t what the A’s organization — or anyone else, for that matter — had in mind.

The call, Desme announced Friday, came in the form of priesthood in the Catholic church.

Here is the money quote, which is a great example of how one can know their vocation:

“As the year went on,” he said, “God blessed me. I had a better year than I could have imagined, but that reconfirmed my desire because I wasn’t at peace with where I was at. I love the game, but I aspire to higher things.

Even though Desme was doing something he loved and doing it in an extraordinary fashion, he was not at peace. I told this story to my own kids to give them an example of how they will one day know what their vocational call is in their own lives.

What I also find so amazing about this story is the timing of Desme’s decision. He is only 23 years old and he is leaving baseball right on the cusp of fulfilling what was surely his lifelong dream: playing in the Major Leagues. No one would fault him if he planned to play for at least 5-10 more years, then decided to become a priest. But God’s plans are not our plans, and when He calls, our response, like Desme’s, should be immediate.

We celebrate the power of The Call with today’s feast, the Conversion of St. Paul. No one could have predicted that the great persecutor of the Church would have his life turned around so suddenly, but when God speaks His Word, it is effective.

This also reminds me of a priest I know who told me he was called to the priesthood at the age of 3. And if that is not amazing enough, he wasn’t even Catholic! He had to wait until high school to convert, then he entered the seminary as soon as he could.

When we hear The Call in our lives, we only have one option: to respond in faith, knowing that the Lord will guide us down the right path.

Pray for Desme and all seminarians today.

Today the results of Baseball’s Hall of Fame voting will be announced, and if there is any justice in the world, this man will be voted in.

Update: Larkin was not voted in, but he received enough votes that it looks likely that he will be inducted within a few years.

sometimes evil does triumph.

Archbishop Dolan of New York has a new blog and it does not just consist of stuffy “churchy” posts, as can be seen in his latest entry:

It’s been hard for this bishop to be against angels, but fortunately that crisis of conscience has passed with the Yankees 5-2 victory last night over the Los Angeles Angels, giving them their 40th American League pennant and sending the Bronx Bombers back to the World Series.

Rooting for the Yankees has been a very natural thing for me, as I have been a Yankee fan since 1961 when, as an 11 year old in Saint Louis, I closely followed the Maris/Mantle home run race. (Of course, being a Cardinal’s fan is a part of my D.N.A.)

With the Angels out of the way, and my beloved Redbirds having been sent home in the first round, there will be no dilemmas when it comes to cheering unreservedly for the Yankees in the Fall Classic.

However, I will feel bad for my friend and mentor, Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, when the Yankees beat his Phillies.

And for Mets fans, please remember that October 28, the first day of the World Series, is also the Feast of Saint Jude, the Patron Saint of Impossible Cases.

I have been a fan of Archbishop Dolan for a while now and his love of the Cardinals is a noble one I can respect. But his support of the Yankees does give me pause. How can the good Archbishop so publicly support the Evil Empire? How can he abandon the National League so easily? Pray for Archbishop Dolan that he might eventually see the light and abandon his support of the $200 million team.

(Note: my comments should not be construed to mean that I support the Phillies. I consider them to be, in the words of Ad Orientem, the Evil Empire’s National League cousin).

What injustice, you say? The fact that all four MLB teams left in the playoffs have payrolls of at least $100 million. Looks like you just buy a World Series title these days.

(Yes, I am from small-market Cincinnati and haven’t seen my beloved Reds in the playoffs since 1995, so excuse me if I’m a bit cranky. And the fact that I now live in a large-market [Washington, DC] which has a small-market payroll doesn’t help either.)

Last night my wife and I went to see our beloved Cincinnati Reds play the Washington Nationals:

We were afraid the game would be rained out, but we were able to watch the first seven innings with no problem.

So, what does this have to do with Catholicism? Nothing really – although Inside Catholic did recently rerun an article on the “Virtues of Baseball.”

P.S. It took extra innings, but the Reds won, fortunately.