Bigger Than Baseball

BIGGER

THAN BASEBALL

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.

Baseball is hard. 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.”

Davis’ 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.

By Kevin Mercer

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“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.” – CHRIS DAVIS

As a 24-year-old MLB player, when Davis reflected on the impermanence of his baseball career, he realized his identity was planted squarely in the sport — a place it should not be.

“I knew that I wasn’t living the way that I was being called, but at the same time, I felt like I was kind of on the edge of the pool just kind of half in,” Davis remembered. “… I made that decision and said, ‘Look, I’m giving my baseball career. I’m giving everything in my life that is on a pedestal. I’m giving all that to You, and You’re driving.’”

A few months later, in July 2011, the native Texan was traded out of his home state from the Rangers to the Orioles. In Baltimore, Davis would quickly feel at home.

By 2012, he was a key part of the Orioles’ lineup and hit 33 home runs with 85 RBIs. By the end of 2013, he had taken the league by storm. He recorded career highs in every major statistical category (.286 batting average, 138 RBIs and an MLB-leading 53 home runs), was a 2013 All-Star, finished third in American League MVP voting, and earned the nickname “Crush Davis.”

His abilities were on display throughout the mid2010s, hitting more than 30 home runs five times and helping to lead Baltimore to the postseason on three occasions (2012, 2014, 2016). Davis’ value to the team was rewarded in January 2016, when he decided to remain in Baltimore by signing a sevenyear, $161 million contract.

However, after only a couple years, his production dipped, the critics came running, and his confidence wavered.

“The thing that I felt like God just kept reiterating to me was that, ‘I’m still here. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around you. I’m still here,’” Davis said. “And even when it can seem like there’s little to no hope, even when it seems like there’s no way out or that there’s not a light at the end of the tunnel, God is still there. And He’s always going to be there, and He knows way more than we do, and He loves us and He’s going to take care of us.”

Davis, who turns 35 in March, is Baltimore’s longest-tenured player. He is the team’s MLBPA player representative and was instrumental in working with the league to develop a plan to play during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s a respected leader within the Orioles organization. When he speaks, others listen.

David Hess certainly has. Hess, a 27-year-old pitcher now with the Tampa Bay organization, played with Davis for three seasons and now calls the slugger a mentor.

“The more I got to know him, the more I realized his leadership is really what you notice,” Hess told Sports Spectrum.

During Hess’ time around Davis in Bible studies and in spontaneous spiritual clubhouse conversations, the up-and-comer and the established veteran formed a friendship deepened by a shared love for Christ. While Davis has been widely ridiculed for his dwindling home runs and surging strikeout rate, his faith

through the fire is what Hess admires most.

“A lot of times you think of people at their best, and when it’s essentially easiest to point the finger and give credit to God and to show what He’s doing,” Hess said. “But it’s really difficult when things aren’t going the way that you were hoping … So to see his response to not only understand that but to continue to push in and want to make sure that if everything else around him was going haywire, [faith] was the one thing that stayed true.

“That was a really great testament, I think, to who he is and to the type of guy that he’s grown to be over the years.”

Davis’ love for Christ has been on display for years in the way he stewards the money from his multi-million-dollar contract. Chris and Jill have been extremely active in their philanthropic efforts, agreeing that when he signed, the money would not be their own but a gift from God to be used for His Kingdom.

The two regularly donate money and time to various causes, perhaps most notably to the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital. Chris and Jill are regulars there visiting children, and in 2019, they donated $3 million, the largest donation ever from a Baltimore sports figure. Chris and Jill have also sponsored several children through Compassion International, a Christ-centered, church-based ministry releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Their generous giving has led to Chris being the Orioles’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes a player’s

BIGGER

AP Photo/Tony Dejak “EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE THERE’S NO WAY OUT OR THAT THERE’S NOT A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, GOD IS STILL THERE. AND HE’S ALWAYS GOING TO BE THERE, AND HE KNOWS WAY MORE THAN WE DO.” – CHRIS DAVIS

“IF EVERYTHING ELSE AROUND HIM WAS GOING HAYWIRE, [FAITH] WAS THE ONE THING THAT STAYED TRUE. THAT WAS A REALLY GREAT TESTAMENT TO WHO HE IS AND TO THE TYPE OF GUY THAT HE’S GROWN TO BE.”

– DAVID HESS

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humanitarian efforts, each year from 2017 to 2019.

In January 2020, the Davises were given the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic with Compassion, and they saw firsthand the positive impact the ministry makes.

“[We] were actually able to see some of the things that we’ve been supporting, meet some of the people that have really been the hands and feet for so many years. And it took it to a whole other level,” Chris said. “When you’re able to see the impact that you’re having on a community and meet those people and talk to them and be around them, it blew us away.”

What the Davises returned to was a world on the precipice of a pandemic. Compassion’s response was to launch “Fill the Stadium,” an athlete-led initiative to continue to provide food, medical care and support for children. The goal is to reach 70,000 children – which would fill an average NFL stadium – who were left without sponsorships due to canceled events.

Chris and Jill donated $1 million.

“Even though the monetary amount is big,” Hess said, “it shows that they’re still being faithful with a lot, which they also were when it wasn’t as much. And so that’s something that [my wife, Devin, and I have] really learned from them and taken from them. Being faithful with a little leads you to be faithful with a lot.”

Recently, Davis was asked by his daughter, Ella, about the difficulty of following Jesus. “It’s the hardest thing that you’ll ever do in your life, but it’s the best decision that you could ever possibly make,” he answered.

See, Davis knows about doing hard things. He’s done the hardest thing in sports — hitting a baseball — exactly 1,165 times. Faith in Christ is hard too, but through God’s power, believers like Davis have a Great High Priest who grants grace to help in times of need.

“[The desire to succeed] has just emotionally drained me over the years not seeing the results that I want to on the field and feeling like I’m letting people down and not living up to what I should be,” Davis said. “But that’s also why we’ve continued to do the things that we’ve done in the community, because we want our legacy to be about God and not about baseball.

“We want it to be bigger than the game of baseball.”