The Spiritual Life of Bryce Harper

I just heard on the radio about an Indian cricketer who may be the best of his country of all time. Indian, Pakistani ...I cannot recall his name, but to many millions of the sub-continent and the cricket sports world he is a big deal and deserves praise for his skills, talents, art of the game, contribution to the sport.

In the United States we have baseball.

[I stopped here a couple weeks ago; I had my thoughts about what to say and share. Maybe I have some better things now?]

Some of our American heroes are the great and greater baseball players, like a cricketer in the sub-continent. Millions watch him, millions pay attention to his actions on the field, regular people and fans both heed his comments and observe his emotions and attitudes, they (we) take signals from him as to his postures, his daily travails and triumphs, his smirks and smiles and groans and curses... Something about this intimate tracking of a guy on the world stage where he faces the big arms and crazy speeds and dips and curves of the elusive spheroid... Life in metaphor. What curve ball or hurtling projectile is coming our way?

On top of the emotional and physical embodiment of his plight, Bryce is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is a signal to a few of us in those ways. Membership has its privileges and its perks, and its pitfalls and drawbacks. Some of us look to him as a hero of our faith, which is not something that he really ever volunteered to do or be, but by association this happens.

It happened for many of us with Dale Murphy in the 1980s, a man and athlete that was known as a gentleman's gentleman, a Christian and a Mormon, proving to those of us bystanders, observers, and near worshipers that he/we were both following Christ and believing in the Book of Mormon and such things in good standing. Murphy embodied a lot of virtue and supreme baseball ability.

Maybe a generation or two before it occurred with Harmon Killebrew, renowned slugger of the Minnesota Twins for people of the same faith (the one my parents joined in 1968, back when that man was well known). I think that another religious minority, the Jewish people, have cherished their baseball stars over the decades, and this is natural, it is part of our humanity. Why? Because each group of people or minority, to include race and nationality, likes to see the person of their background that represents them on the bigger stage of public sport. Hank Greenburg was a great of his day and I have seen evidence that he mattered to Jewish Americans. Ball players of all nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, like Roberto Clemente of Puerto Rico, Ichiro Suzuki of Japan, the early Latin greats of Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Central America, or even a great player from Canada or South Korea or Taiwan...

But for a person of a religious minority in the United States, certain people of our faith cling to or bask in the successes of fellow members in baseball or other sports. I know this happened with Dale Murphy, and then later Wally Joyner, and a few others, like a couple with the San Francisco Giants... Don't get me wrong, many active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could care less about baseball, and if they did care they may have no idea that Dale Murphy in the 1980s or Bryce Harper in the 2000s is a member of the faith... But there are a few of us, and therefore this is a thing.

Bryce did get married in the San Diego temple a couple years ago, so I believe he is a faithful member of our faith, which is cool to me and a few others. We like successful people as examples. We all he is no Dale Murphy, but who is? Murphy was a Saint's Saint. An angel of a human being, everyone knew him for his virtue and piety, and a few years of baseball awesomeness.

Bryce should end up with a bigger career than the Murph (who is not in the Hall of Fame, despite some arguments for his inclusion)... Harper is on his way, although no one is as good as his contemporary Mike Trout. Trout is in as of maybe two years ago (2018).

And we love to see it, this Bryce wunderkind since his teens, and we care about his and many other peoples' spiritual well beings, public figures and lesser known private ones tucked away across our respective neighborhoods and communities...

Long live Bryce Harper, even though he left our Nats.

We want to see him in the Hall of Fame, and someday at a Church of Jesus Christ temple near you... Maybe he will not be a Mission President as Brother Murphy later became, but how many of us faithful ever become a mission president? Not many. As long as Harper stays married and is a good family man, that is all we can ask for as a public and religious fans.

Go Bryce, do your thing. You have brought a lot of interest to the game, and many are very thankful for it.