I like Major League baseball, but I don’t follow it that closely. Certainly not closely enough to have noticed the amazing and unexpected demonstration of grace that occurred in game two of the World Series.

The Diamondbacks were winning by 6 runs in the top of the 9th inning. The game was over. Tommy Pham had gone 4 for 4 in the game. This means Pham got a base hit every time he stepped to the plate in the game. He had another turn to bat in the ninth. No one in the history of the sport has gone 5 for 5 in a World Series game. Pham had an opportunity to make history. Instead, he asked the Diamondback’s manager (Torey Lovullo) if fellow friend and teammate Jace Peterson could bat in his place. Peterson wasn’t in the lineup for the night. Jace Peterson got an “at bat” in the World Series because Tommy Pham gave his up. This, of all things, grabbed the headlines from the baseball world in the middle of the World Series.

Full disclosure: I had never heard these names before. Both Pham and Peterson play baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Arizona Diamondbacks played in this year’s World Series, losing the Series to the Texas Rangers in five games. But the Diamondbacks won that game. The final score was 9-1. Ho-hum. Boring. Who cares?

From this boring game, the story of Pham’s gratuity caught the attention of the sports media (and eventually mine). Something happened that you rarely — if ever — hear about in sports. Something happened that, let’s be honest, we rarely hear about, period. A show of kindness, grace, sacrifice, and friendship that causes the world to take notice. A small, yet shocking, gesture.

As long as the games were close, Peterson probably wouldn’t ever have had an opportunity to bat at all in the World Series. He would be able to tell his kids and grandkids that he was on a team that played for a World Series Championship. But wouldn’t be able to say he actually played in a World Series game. But Tommy Pham wanted to give his friend an opportunity to play in a game. So, instead of him going for  glory and the immortality of a personal record, Jace Peterson got to bat in his place. The reserve infielder grounded into a force out. Peterson didn’t get a hit in his his only appearance at the plate in the series, but he did get his name etched into the stat sheets of baseball history. Tommy Pham cheered on his friend and teammate, giving up his own chance to be in the history books.

At the time, Peterson had no idea what Pham was giving up. “If I would have known that, I probably would have said, ‘No, you’re going to chase this record,” said Peterson. One can assume Pham would have persisted. He already knew what he was doing. He knew he was giving up his opportunity for history. Manager Lovullo said, “This was a moment where it was a teammate loving a teammate to give him an opportunity … He took what mattered most to him personally and said it’s more about the team and my teammate at this moment.” Wow.

One player sacrificed so another could play. One player giving up his position and opportunity so another player could have one. Sacrificial love from one friend set up success for another friend.

Boring game. 9-1. Diamondbacks won game 2, but the Rangers dominated the Series. Yet the world takes notice. A “weary world rejoices” if you will. There is a glimmer of light. There is a glimpse of kindness. There are echoes of love. There is a hint of Gospel — and we all, without realizing it, long for the kind of love that gives us what we never deserved.

Maybe, just maybe, God knew what He was doing. There is something in us that aches to see, experience, and give this kind of love. Aches to be seen and valued. Longs to be known and sacrificed for. We know and understand, deep down, that if someone doesn’t step in and take our place, we will never get to play. It’s pretty telling when, after one of the biggest games in baseball has passed, the world talked more about sacrifice and joy than the result of the game. Yeah. I think God knows what He’s doing.

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