DBU alum Ben Zobrist a missionary to teammates

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)—Ben Zobrist has proven his value on the baseball field to the Kansas City Royals, homering in two key situations during the American League Championship Series. More important to him, however, is his Christian influence on teammates.

“Ben, by virtue of the providence of God, has ended up being a missionary in a very difficult mission field of professional sports,” said Byron Yawn, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Nashville, where Zobrist and his wife, Julianna, are members. “Ben deeply values those connections he has with people, the relationships that he has.”

Ben Zobrist (center) is the son of an Illinois pastor who played college baseball at Dallas Baptist University before entering the Major Leagues. (PHOTO/Kansas City Royals)Zobrist, son of a pastor in Eureka, Ill., became a Christian as a child. In high school, after realizing sports held too prominent of a place in his heart, he recommitted himself to Christ. 

After a collegiate career at Dallas Baptist University, Zobrist spent most of his professional career with the Tampa Bay Rays, making the American League All-Star team twice and playing in the 2008 World Series. 

A trade after the 2014 season sent him to Oakland. Kansas City acquired Zobrist in a mid-season acquisition this year, and he offered the Royals what he has brought to teams throughout his career—a little bit of left field, a little bit of third base, a little bit of right field—before settling in at second base down the stretch.

‘Do your job with excellence’

“Like anybody else that goes and does their job, there’s a way to do your job with excellence,” Zobrist said in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness. “You want to represent Christ well with doing your job, first and foremost, because that’s what you’re there to do.”

For Zobrist, family is a major part of his life, whether it’s his wife and their kids, his baseball family or his church family. The Zobrists have two children, with a third child due just days after the World Series ends.

Even with Zobrist on the road so much for his job, the couple made a commitment never to be apart more than six days at a stretch—which means his wife and children spend a fair amount of time traveling with him or hanging out at the ballpark. 

“There’s not a question within anybody’s mind around the Zobrists, and especially Ben, that his family is an incredibly tight unit, and a major, major priority in his life,” Yawn said.

His teammates are another of Zobrist’s priorities, and his positive attitude and approachable spirit in the locker room make him a unifying force with the team. He often prays for his teammates and engages them in conversations about the gospel, and Yawn said he’s able to do this because of the respect he has earned as a steady and solid leader.

“The consistency of the godliness of his life is a natural attraction to a diversity of personalities on the team,” Yawn said. 

Staying connected

Even though his job requires him to be absent from his church family much of the year, Zobrist stays connected to Community Bible Church. He listens to podcasts of the sermons, and church members make it a point to stay in touch during the season, keeping him abreast of all that is happening, providing accountability and letting him know he isn’t forgotten, even when he isn’t in attendance.

“We try to view Ben somewhat like we would a salesman that has to travel throughout the year and be gone a majority of the time, where we accommodate this season of his life,” Yawn said. “Of course, his spirit is such that when he’s done with baseball, we know exactly where he’ll be.”