Baseball standouts from Alabama stay focused on Christ

Baseball standouts from Alabama stay focused on Christ

When Blake Mayo played minor league baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, he didn’t realize that season in his life would prepare him for a career in ministry.
   
“If I had never done baseball, home would have been really safe,” said Mayo, minister to youth at Twelfth Street Baptist Church, Gadsden, in Etowah Baptist Association. “I was always away from home and on the road, which is why I’m passionate about missions today.” 
   
His life as a baseball player began at age 9. He was pitching by 15, signed with Mississippi State University in Starkville after high school and played his senior year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It wasn’t until later that his life as a Christian started. Mayo came to salvation during his rookie season in 1996 when his roommate introduced him to Christ.
   
“My whole mind-set changed,” Mayo recalled. “I started playing professional baseball and living as a Christian at the same time. The Lord started impacting me when my pitching coach invited us to church. That’s where God really began to reveal himself to me.”
   
Mayo was then on the road for eight years, traveling from February to September each year. He also played four and a half months in Australia during his off-season. Through all of it, he was sharing his newfound faith.
   
Now in his third year on staff at the church where he was baptized, engaged and married, Mayo and his wife, Laura, are bringing the lessons learned from baseball to a generation of young people.
   
“When I was on the road, I learned more than seminary can ever teach you. I played with people of all different spiritual backgrounds. You have to get people out of their comfort zone,” he said.
   
During his baseball career, Mayo learned the need to stand for your personal beliefs and values, something that can be quite a challenge on a professional baseball team. 
   
Andy Phillips, first baseman for the New York Yankees, is someone that Mayo looks up to for doing just that. 
   
“He’s the real deal. I mean, he’s playing for one of the greatest sports teams ever but stands up for his faith in God,” Mayo said.
   
Phillips attended high school in Demopolis and played for the University of Alabama (UA). Wayne Atcheson, director of the Billy Graham Library at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., was the advisor of UA’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) organization, which Phillips was involved with while at the university.
   
“I spoke with Andy just before he left for training camp this past spring,” Atcheson said. “One of the last things he did before leaving for Tampa was to sing for the Alabama FCA group. I said to Andy, ‘Isn’t it amazing where God has led you — playing with the greatest team franchise in sports history?’” 
   
This year’s baseball season marked Phillips’ first full season with the Yankees. According to Atcheson, Phillips — a first baseman — made two plays this season that were No. 2 on ESPN’s play of the day. Despite the success that he has had on the field, this Alabama Baptist from Fairhaven Baptist Church, Demopolis, in Bethel Baptist Association unashamedly acknowledges his faith in Christ.
   
“I think of all the people who have heard Andy share his faith — those college students who heard him share at FCA meetings, teammates he has played with, plus the millions who discover each year of his love for the Lord and unashamed desire to share the Lord Jesus,” Atcheson said.
   
Having watched Phillips play with the Yankees and recalling his own career in the minor leagues, Mayo compares life to a river. 
   
“God’s river is flowing — His purpose and His will are somewhere in there. … What I have learned is just to jump in. Go with God in absolute surrender.”