{"id":3939,"date":"2010-01-23T09:33:18","date_gmt":"2010-01-23T09:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/01\/grant-desme-hed-rather-play-for-the-padres.html"},"modified":"2010-01-23T09:33:18","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T09:33:18","slug":"grant-desme-hed-rather-play-for-the-padres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/01\/grant-desme-hed-rather-play-for-the-padres.html","title":{"rendered":"Grant Desme: he’d rather play for the Padres"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rising star of the Oakland A’s announced yesterday that he’s quitting baseball to begin studies for the priesthood: <\/a><\/p>\n

\"193616glh.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>The A’s prized prospect exited the season with a head-turning presence, accompanied by a bat that produced 31 home runs and a speedy 6-foot-2 frame that stole 40 bases in Class A ball — making him the only player in Minor League Baseball to enjoy a 30-30 campaign.<\/p>\n

An exceptional performance and MVP honors in the Arizona Fall League followed, so surely Desme was close to getting a call, most assumed — if not for a trip to The Show, then at least for an invitation to Spring Training.<\/p>\n

Yet, Desme insists he’d already received the call long before his final at-bat in the fall came and went — the one that would take him to bigger and better places.<\/p>\n

It just so happens it wasn’t what the A’s organization — or anyone else, for that matter — had in mind.
\nThe call, Desme announced Friday, came in the form of priesthood in the Catholic church.<\/p>\n

“Last year before the season started, I really had a strong feeling of a calling and a real strong desire to follow it,” the 23-year-old said. “I just fought it.”<\/p>\n

Thus, Desme chose to play out the season as a test of sorts, “just hoping and praying about it.”<\/p>\n

“As the year went on,” he said, “God blessed me. I had a better year than I could have imagined, but that reconfirmed my desire because I wasn’t at peace with where I was at. I love the game, but I aspire to higher things.<\/p>\n

“I thought, I’m doing well in baseball, but I really had to get down to the bottom of things — what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. And I felt that while baseball is a good thing and I love playing, I thought it was selfish of me to be doing that when I really felt that God was calling me more, which took me awhile in my life to really trust and open up to it and aim full steam toward Him.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article goes on to mention that Desme will be embarking on a 10-year formation to the priesthood at a Norbertine Abbey in Orange, California. <\/a>  <\/p>\n

For those who are wondering: Desme isn’t the only ballplayer to get The Call:<\/a> <\/p>\n

John Werhas has never heard of Desme, but the former Dodgers infielder is familiar with the process that led to his decision. During two decades as a Baseball Chapel minister that took him into Major and Minor League clubhouses every Sunday morning, Werhas listened to many players struggle with a similar choice.<\/p>\n

“They were torn by their desire to lead a more balanced life that accommodated their faith,” Werhas said. “Actually, I was one of the few voices that encouraged them — if they were good enough to play and get to the big leagues — to stay in the game as long as they had the God-given ability to play.<\/p>\n

“If you think about it, there aren’t too many other things you could do where the two, sports and faith, better complement each other.”<\/p>\n

Desme clearly viewed the two as mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n

“I love the game, but I aspire to higher things,” he said on a conference call with reporters on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The fair-haired Californian’s decision separates him from the crowd, but not the quandary he clearly faced.<\/p>\n

For many, their faith runs deeper, is far more profound, than a simple skyward index finger when something good happens for them on the field.<\/p>\n

Josh Fields, the infielder dealt by the White Sox to Seattle in November, also considered retiring from baseball a couple of months after his 2007 rookie season.<\/p>\n

The devout Fields was disenchanted with the clubhouse culture, telling the gathering at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes luncheon of the “many things going on in the clubhouse that I really questioned if professional baseball was for me.”<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Fields “prayed about it and realized there is nowhere I could have more influence right now than in that clubhouse.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more at the link.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rising star of the Oakland A’s announced yesterday that he’s quitting baseball to begin studies for the priesthood: The A’s prized prospect exited the season with a head-turning presence, accompanied by a bat that produced 31 home runs and a speedy 6-foot-2 frame that stole 40 bases in Class A ball — making him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocations"],"yoast_head":"\nGrant Desme: he'd rather play for the Padres - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/01\/grant-desme-hed-rather-play-for-the-padres.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grant Desme: he'd rather play for the Padres - 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