The Babe Hits One For the Ascension of Our Lord!

Crossposted from dotCommonweal

Even though our Holy Mother Church requires exclusive fidelity, I must confess that I also worship at another church -- the Church of Baseball. I am thus always delighted when I hear a story that somehow unites those two devotions. On September 4, 1923 Babe Ruth played a nine-inning game at old Shibe Park against the old Philadelphia Athletics, hopped in a car, and went to a working class neighborhood  in North Philly, where he played another nine inning game in the uniform of the Ascension of our Lord parish team to help raise money for the parish's new ballfield. The event was a great success -- over 10,000 people attended, and enough money was raised to pay for the field. Babe not only played the whole game, he lingered afterward to sign autographs and to hit fungoes to the kids. The Babe may have been a great sinner (assuming his hot dog consumption constituted Gluttony), but I hope his many charitable acts earned him some heavenly recompense. Read the whole story  here http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14469178.htm

--Mark