Desire
to Build a Church Led to Player's Major League Comeback
Christian Post ^ | Jul. 30 2008 | Josh Kimball
Posted on Thursday,
July 31, 2008 7:17:35 AM by Between the Lines
Fernando Tatis’ return
to major league baseball after a two-year absence had little to do with his
desire to play the game, the New York Mets left fielder said Monday.
It had mostly to do with his desire to build a
church.
“In my town, we needed to buy land to build a
church,” he explained Monday from his locker at Dolphin Stadium. “And I said to
my family, the only way that we can buy the land is if I come back to baseball
and make the money to buy the land to build the church for our town.
“That was the first step,” he said.
Prior to that moment Tatis
was simply staying at home in the
He didn’t even pick up a bat.
Then, when he and his entire community wanted to
build a church in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris
but lacked the money to purchase the land, Tatis said
he resolved to return to the game to raise money.
"If God wants me to return to baseball,
somebody is going to call me," Tatis, now 33,
recalled telling his wife, according to the New York Daily News.
And one week after that proclamation, in 2006,
that call came when a scout from the Baltimore Orioles reached him unexpectedly
to express interest. After that moment, Tatis would
attend spring training with the Orioles and later play one mediocre portion of
the 2006 season before spending another year out of the Majors and hooking on
with the Mets this past spring.
Now, he's the Mets' starting left fielder for a
playoff contender. And the church his community wanted to build opened its
doors three months ago.
“You put something in your mind and when you see
the reality, and when you see the church is so beautiful, so big … it‘s
amazing,” Tatis said.
According to the Star-Ledger of
Though Tatis certainly
had not imagined himself becoming an important piece to a contending club, he
now finds himself in that position with the Mets neck-to-neck with the
Philadelphia Phillies for the lead in the National
League East division.
“To me, I take it this way: it’s a blessing for me
to be here,” said Tatis, who is hitting .319 with a
.519 slugging percentage in 160 at-bats as of Wednesday. “God has blessed me
every day just to be here in the big leagues, to be alive. That’s the way that
I take it right now. And it’s amazing.”