Marc Dick has been with the Jim Ryun Running Camps since I was 5 years old. He still gives the morning devotionals every day at camp. He emailed me one the other day and I thought it was too good not to post.
Dropped the Ball
“In the 1941 World Series, Mickey Owen played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. They faced the New York Yankees that year. During that championship season, Owen set a record for most errorless fielding chances by a catcher with 508 perfect attempts and finished with a .995 average. This record still stands. Ironically, Owen earned a place in baseball lore for a costly dropped ball that he was charged with during the ‘41 World Series. The Yankees held a 2-games-to-1 lead entering Game 4 at the Dodgers’ home field, Ebbets Field, but with 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning and the count 3-2 on the Yankee’s Tommy Henrich the Dodgers led 4-3. Henrich swung and missed at strike 3 which would have been the final out of the game, but the ball went past Owen and Henrich made it safely to first base. The next batter for the Yankees was a young player named Joe DeMaggio. The Yankees went on to rally and score four runs in that inning and held on to win the game 7-4. Instead of the series being even at 2-2 the victory gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the series and, the next day, New York beat the Dodgers 3-1 in Game 5 and won the World Championship. The Dodgers didn’t get back to the World Series until 1947 and didn’t win the series until 1955.
A four-consecutive All-Star from 1941-44, in 1942 Owen became the first player to pinch-hit a home run in an All-Star game, and during the 1944 regular season, he became the third National League catcher to ever record an unassisted double play. Owen played for Brooklyn until the end of the 1945 season. He then served in the Navy at the end of World War II.
After his discharge from the military in 1946, Owen expected to return to Brooklyn, but he failed to reach an agreement with the Dodgers and signed a contract to be a player-manager in the Mexican League. Owen returned to the majors in 1949 with the Chicago Cubs and played for them until the 1951 season. He finished his major league playing career with the Boston Red Sox in 1954.
Following his retirement as a player, Owen spent two seasons (1955-56) as a Red Sox coach, then worked for the Cubs as a scout. Then, he returned to the Ozarks and founded the Mickey Owen Baseball School on Route 66 near Miller, Missouri in 1959. That academy still bears his name even though he sold it many years ago. As a side note, Michael Jordan attended Mickey Owen Baseball School when he was young. In 1964, Owen ran for Greene County sheriff and won. He also won three more elections, serving in the office until 1981. Owen ran for Lt. Governor of Missouri in 1980 and finished third with 13% and 79038 votes. Owen was still playing in oldtimers’ games in the 1980s. Owen lived the last years of his life in the Missouri Veterans Home in Mount Vernon. He died in 2005 in Springfield, Missouri at age of 89.
Mickey Owen was a great baseball player. But he will always be remembered as the man who “dropped the ball.” That one play defined his career. The well known term, “dropped the ball,” comes from him dropping the ball on that famous third strike in the 1941 world series. Sometimes, at critical junctions in life we as Christians, “drop the ball.” It is important to remember the advice of the apostle Paul, “One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and and reaching foward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Mickey Owen went on to have a great life. Paul had to forget events like the stoning of Stephen. It is good news to know that when we have “dropped the ball” of life, that Jesus Christ offers forgiveness. He puts us back in the game of life to play for His glory.”
Tags: devotional, Jim Ryun Running Camps, Marc Dick
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