Baseball and Websites

As Marc Bostrom and I were setting up for a conference April 9, he told me about his ballpark ministry. Marc is a superfan who has already visited over 140 baseball stadiums. He has attended games in all of the Major League baseball parks and is striving to visit all 160 Minor League parks. A few years ago he started praying that God would let him meet at least one new person per game, and be involved in a meaningful conversation. Here is one of his stories:

I visited a Single A park in New York and met the General Manager. After getting a tour of the park after the game he said “Marc, I wish you would have told me you were coming. We like people like you. Next time I’ll let you throw out the first pitch. If there’s anything I can do for you let me know.”

A couple of days later in Pennsylvania, I tried purchasing a ticket for a Triple A game. Incredibly, it was sold out including standing room. I called my new friend, who knew the GM for this park, and got a ticket for me in 30 minutes. It was in the handicapped row at the top of a section. I asked the person sitting there if he was in my seat. He assured me, gruffly, that he was in the right seat. I started to leave that row, but the usher looked at my ticket, then proceeded to pull a seat from a closet that locked into the space where a wheelchair would go. I sat down right next to the annoyed fan.
“Who ARE you?” he said. I proceeded to say I was nobody, just a fan.
“No, you are somebody. I’ve been a season ticket holder for years with this seat. This has never happened before!”

We talked some more. I told him about the ballparks I had visited and that I worked for Campus Crusade. We got into a spiritual conversation. My new friend said “This is the best day I have ever had.”

Marc had other stories like this. (search “Marc Bostrum” on YouTube) He asked me if it was OK to use our website-building tool so he could tell his stories and connect to people. I am gladly helping him, and hope more of our staff will be able to tell their stories using our tool.