Love for God, love of the game motivate Texas author

Posted: 8/04/06

Love for God, love of the
game motivate Texas author

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Hugh Poland—a Kentucky-born catcher who broke into the big leagues in 1943 when World War II drained the talent pool—played with four teams before the Cincinnati Reds released him May 28, 1948.

“So far as I can tell, he’s no relation to me,” explained a different Hugh Poland, author of Steal Away: Devotions for Baseball Fans. “I’m not a former ballplayer. I’m a minister of music.”

But Poland, who has served seven years on staff at Woodridge Baptist Church in Kingwood after nine years at a church in Corpus Christi, loves the game. And his book—recently published by Judson Press—allowed him to blend that passion with his Christian calling.

“It’s the book I always wanted to read and never could find, so I decided to write it myself,” he said. “I’ve loved baseball all my life. It’s all the memories of what a boy learns to love about it—the smell of saddle soap on a glove as you hold it up to your face out in the field, fresh-cut grass, snow cones—everything. And through the years, I’ve followed the game passionately.”

In fact, Poland holds membership in the Society for American Baseball Research—a group that brings together arcane trivia experts, academic numbers-crunchers and people who enjoy swapping stories about recently discovered bits of baseball history.

Poland wrote the devotional book for people like himself—as well as for athletes, coaches, umpires and chaplains.

“I wanted to put something in their hands they could use,” he said.

Poland’s book brings together testimonies of Christian ballplayers, managers and umpires, alongside spiritual lessons drawn from famous—and sometimes not-so-famous—incidents in baseball history.

He sent about 50 requests for information to past and present baseball personalities, and those queries yielded about 20 interviews.

He believes good stories offer the best vessel to deliver spiritual truth in an accessible way.

“The parables Jesus told and the conversations that followed were like a spiritual game of catch with his followers,” Poland said.

“At the heart of every baseball fan, there’s a love for the story of the game. Put people who care about the game together, and before long, they start sharing stories. Everybody wants to hear the stories, and a story can be the way to a person’s heart.”