I started paying attention to baseball back around '87, and since then I have always enjoyed learning everything that I can about the story of baseball and those whose lives wrote it.  One plot line that spanned 41 years caught my attention, and allows us to see the different characters of two men.

From 1923 to 1964 the New York Yankees played in 24 of the 41 World Series' contested, winning 20 of them.  During that stretch, (with the exception of the '32 team) the Yankees fielded only three center fielders, each of them honored in the hall of fame today.  The first was Earl Combs, the Kentucky Colonel, lead-off man for the Murderers' Row team of '27 (almost universally recognized as the best baseball team ever assembled).  Combs was by all accounts a devoted Christian man, who quietly filled his role in hall of fame fashion until injury ended his career in 1935.  His replacement in center field was a promising young ball player named Joe DiMaggio.  True to form, Combs welcomed DiMaggio, training him and teaching him all that he had learned in his hall of fame career.  And DiMaggio went on to become - well, Joe DiMaggio.

The Yankee Clipper took over and patrolled center field in Yankee Stadium until 1951, when the Yankees brought up a young Oklahoman named Mickey Mantle to ascend to the position of Yankee starting center fielder.  However, DiMaggio did not extend to Mantle the same kindness that Combs had shown him.  Based on reports from those close to the situation, DiMaggio was a little cold toward his successor.  Video footage even exists that shows Mantle hitting a home run with DiMaggio on deck, and DiMaggio snubbing Mantle for the customary handshake upon crossing the plate.  We can only speculate as to what in DiMaggio's mind drove him to withhold the benefit of his (and Combs') experience and blessing from Mantle, but the fact remains that he did.

In Deuteronomy 1:38, God commanded Moses to encourage Joshua, who would succeed him as the leader of the Israelites and lead them into the land that God had promised to give to them.  According to human nature (what the Bible calls "the flesh") Moses had ample reason to be bitter against Joshua.  Moses could have felt sorry for himself, thinking that he should have been the one to lead the Israelites to receive the promise.  He could have worried that Joshua's legacy and fame would surpass the memory of his own.  But he didn't.  Moses humbled himself, honored the command of the Lord, and did what was best for Israel and for Joshua (Deuteronomy 3:21-22).  Thank God for your Earle Combs and your Moses.  Who are your DiMaggio's and Joshua's?  What potential Mickey Mantle would benefit from your time?