CNHI
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. —
The 1994 movie “Angels in the Outfield” depicts angelic players in baseball caps helping a hapless team make miracle plays. If any real-life team could summon such divine intervention, it would probably be the Niagara Power.
“We pray and do more spiritual things than the other teams,” said Cal Kern, owner and general manager of the faith-based, summer league team whose members are college ballplayers with big-league ambition.
But even among the devout, life doesn’t always imitate art.
“We lost the first nine games,” said Kern.
The Power play in the 14-team New York Collegiate Baseball League against squads such as the Glens Falls Golden Eagles and Oneonta Outlaws. Members of the Power -- like players in other summer leagues -- board with local families for the duration of the nine- to ten-week season. They hold free clinics for area children.
But Power players also attend Bible study and events at local churches that support the team.
“Our mission is to impact people through baseball,” said Kern. “We do that by teaching baseball and touching lives through a game that most kids love.”
Kern started the Power three years ago, in partnership with the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He is deeply aware of the difference faith can make in an athlete’s life.
Kern is a former soccer player whose pro career ended at age 22, when complications from a shattered knee led to months of healing and soul searching.
A friend suggested he try reading the Bible. Kern laughed.
Eventually he took his friend’s advice.
“I said to myself, ‘I’m going to follow this Jesus and see where it takes me,’ and I haven’t stopped since then,” he said. “That’s why I’m in sports ministry.”
Kern is not an ordained minister but testifies about his faith for church groups. One such meeting at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church led the congregation to sign on as a team sponsor. It now contributes $1,000 to the Power each season and asks for divine intervention on behalf of the Power’s young players.
“We pray for these boys every week,” said Pastor Bruce Gamache. “We pray for their health, their well being. We lift them up in prayer.”
Members of St. Peter’s and other churches that sponsor the team tailgate at the Power’s home games at Sal Maglie Stadium in Niagara Falls. They invite players to speak to their school children. They worship with the ballplayers.
And they keep close tabs on the Power’s performance -- an un-heavenly 11-23 record so far this year, which puts the team in the league cellar.
Marshall McDonald, 21, of Red Springs, N.C., wasn’t thinking of such secular attention, or really the spirit of Christianity in general, when he applied to play for the Power two years ago.
McDonald had been cut from two college teams, and he wanted a chance to play at at a level that could advance his career.
The first baseman is now playing his second season for the Power. As of Wednesday he led the team in home runs, with two so far this season. He credits his success with the Power for earning him a full scholarship to play at Montreat College in Ashville, N.C.
McDonald said, to his surprise, playing for the Power also strengthens his faith.
“I came here not really knowing what I was getting in to,” he said. “I got really close to God. It helped me out more as a man and a baseball player than I ever thought it would.”
Kern said some coaches look down upon Christian ballplayers as soft, but such spirituality is encouraged on his club.
“What our message is, if God has given you this ability to play, then you have the responsibility to play as hard as you can,” he said.
Michele Deluca writes for the Niagara Gazette in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
