Baseball is hard.
BIGGER THAN BASEBALL
By Kevin Mercer
22 22
SPORTS SPECTRUM
The legendary Ted Williams — one of the best hitters in history — even said hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. Baltimore Orioles veteran first baseman Chris Davis has seen just how true Williams’ words are. From 2015 to 2018, Davis led all major-league players in strikeouts per at bat, and in 2018, he set an all-time major-league record for the lowest
batting average for a qualified player (.168). The paragon of Davis’ struggles came in 2019, when he endured an 0-for-54 streak dating back to the previous season. In 16 games in 2020, Davis posted a .115 batting average with one RBI before a persistent knee injury cut his season short.
Davis’ lack of production has been well-documented over the years, leaving him open to criticism and a favorite of social media trolls. Sometimes the constant scrutiny is too much, careers are ruined and players drift into baseball history. This could have been Davis. But as he says, he doesn’t regret a thing. He lives for something beyond baseball. “Throughout the struggles that I’ve faced over the course of my career,” Davis said recently on the Sports Spectrum Podcast, “I always had peace that God was at work, and I felt like there were instances where I really needed something tangible to kind of hold onto and God provided that — whether it was through a relationship, whether it was through some kind of serving that [my wife, Jill, and I] did in the community … “I never lost sight of the fact that God was at work and that He was going to do something good. He was going to bring something good out of this, whether it was through baseball or after baseball.”
D
avis’ Christian faith has roots in his childhood, when he was baptized at the age of 6. Yet it took him 18 years to truly understand what it meant to have a vibrant relationship with God.
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AP Photo/ Tommy Gilligan, Michael Owens, Nick Wass
THE ON-FIELD STRUGGLES OF CHRIS DAVIS HAVE BEEN WELL CHRONICLED, BUT NEITHER THE PRESSURE NOR THE CRITICISM HAS STOPPED HIM FROM HIS TRUE CALLING: LIVING FOR CHRIST. HE’S A TEAM LEADER, A CARING FRIEND AND, ALONG WITH HIS WIFE, AMONG THE MOST FINANCIALLY GENEROUS PEOPLE IN SPORTS.
