What do you think?
Rate this book
And God Said, "Play Ball!": Amusing and Thought-provoking Parallels Between the Bible and Baseball
This book manages to be entertaining and educational, as well as fanciful and inspirational. It draws from the lives of Jesus Christ and Yogi Berra, Joseph of Nazareth and Joe DiMaggio, Moses and Hank Aaron, Saint Peter and Jackie Robinson. And God Said, "Play Ball!" makes the Bible more approachable by relating it to a game loved by both children and adults. It shows that baseball is not only a game, but a never-ending series of lessons about life, as well. And God Said, "Play Ball!" will appeal to Christian Athletes of any denomination.
The author has been a baseball fan for more than forty years and a Catholic a lot longer than that. He has played, coached, watched, or taught baseball since he was seven years old. He is very active in lay ministry and catechetics at his Catholic parish in Seattle, and has found both the Bible and baseball to be among the greatest teachers in his life.
This book includes 8 pages of timeless photographs. You won't find a more inspiring gift for that baseball player in your life--of whatever age--or that fan in front of your TV!
Paperback
PDF Samples
The author has been a baseball fan for more than forty years and a Catholic a lot longer than that. He has played, coached, watched, or taught baseball since he was seven years old. He is very active in lay ministry and catechetics at his Catholic parish in Seattle, and has found both the Bible and baseball to be among the greatest teachers in his life.
This book includes 8 pages of timeless photographs. You won't find a more inspiring gift for that baseball player in your life--of whatever age--or that fan in front of your TV!
Paperback
PDF Samples
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
53 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 17, 2018
I give this book three stars because while entertaining and amusing at points, the author’s patterns gets predictable and worn. Graf is a gifted storyteller, his spinning of baseball history is insightful and entertaining. Where it gets tough is his biblical exegesis, which has all the subtlety and insight of an undergraduate theology minor. Which is to say he often relies on nearly verbatim reiteration of biblical citations, only in modern language (however, the NRSV quotes already attempt to put the words in modern language). I felt the reflections on scripture reached only the surface level of the words; like a cookie-cutter feel-good homily from an overzealous deacon that Father throws a bone by letting him preach one weekend a month.
Part of the problem is that the author sticks to the subtitle, “parallels between the bible and baseball.” He doesn’t look at the saints or their lives, or secondary sources, so he’s left with scripture (which is fine) but trying to stretch it into 18 chapters gets repetitive and preachy. By and large Graf sticks to Gospels, though the Chapter complairing the patriarchs Moses and Aaron to (John) Moses and (Hank) Aaron necessarily dives into the Old Testament. Yet, it's not like there was a shortage of material to worth with in the Bible alone.
Many parts are genuinely engaging, for example Graf’s Chapter, “Top of the 7th” (“I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said”) is a riot. It even ends with a fictitious conference on the mound with Casey Stengal, Yogi Berra, and Satchel Paige debating how to pitch a slugger, using actual quotes from these three confounding wise men. This chapter alone is worth reading time and again. The chapter about Juan Marichal and John Roseboro’s infamous feud and subsequent forgiveness is also deeply moving. These are good stories and deserve to live on.
While the baseball history is well done, the transitions to biblical parallels and life lessons are hard to manage, hard to follow and and hard to stay engaged. One chapter compares Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider to the Holy Trinity...where’s St. Patrick when you need him? Other parts are painful: the Staff of Aaron is obviously a reference to Hammerin’ Hank’s bat and 755 home runs; the parable of the 5 talents is comparable to the 5-tool player; “many are called but few are chosen” is clumsily turned into a critique(?), allegory(?), or prophecy (?) on the ever-expanding MLB playoffs. Another painful part is the treatment of Jose Canseco versus Barry Bonds. Canseco is treated as the punchline to a joke because, well - we all know... But Bonds is held aloft as one of the incontestable greats, completely detached from his own steroid scandal. If this book was written in 1996 maybe that works, but this was written in 2005, people knew then he was tied to BALCO. Look, I firmly believe Bonds is one of the greatest, I believe there’s a place in the Hall for him, but to be willfully ignorant of his exploits and not even pretend to address the elephant in the room is a disservice to both the reader and the game.
All told, the book is better for the history of baseball it tells than for the scriptural parallels. It could be a good “hook” for someone to begin working their way deeper in the faith, but it can’t be an end in itself.
Part of the problem is that the author sticks to the subtitle, “parallels between the bible and baseball.” He doesn’t look at the saints or their lives, or secondary sources, so he’s left with scripture (which is fine) but trying to stretch it into 18 chapters gets repetitive and preachy. By and large Graf sticks to Gospels, though the Chapter complairing the patriarchs Moses and Aaron to (John) Moses and (Hank) Aaron necessarily dives into the Old Testament. Yet, it's not like there was a shortage of material to worth with in the Bible alone.
Many parts are genuinely engaging, for example Graf’s Chapter, “Top of the 7th” (“I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said”) is a riot. It even ends with a fictitious conference on the mound with Casey Stengal, Yogi Berra, and Satchel Paige debating how to pitch a slugger, using actual quotes from these three confounding wise men. This chapter alone is worth reading time and again. The chapter about Juan Marichal and John Roseboro’s infamous feud and subsequent forgiveness is also deeply moving. These are good stories and deserve to live on.
While the baseball history is well done, the transitions to biblical parallels and life lessons are hard to manage, hard to follow and and hard to stay engaged. One chapter compares Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider to the Holy Trinity...where’s St. Patrick when you need him? Other parts are painful: the Staff of Aaron is obviously a reference to Hammerin’ Hank’s bat and 755 home runs; the parable of the 5 talents is comparable to the 5-tool player; “many are called but few are chosen” is clumsily turned into a critique(?), allegory(?), or prophecy (?) on the ever-expanding MLB playoffs. Another painful part is the treatment of Jose Canseco versus Barry Bonds. Canseco is treated as the punchline to a joke because, well - we all know... But Bonds is held aloft as one of the incontestable greats, completely detached from his own steroid scandal. If this book was written in 1996 maybe that works, but this was written in 2005, people knew then he was tied to BALCO. Look, I firmly believe Bonds is one of the greatest, I believe there’s a place in the Hall for him, but to be willfully ignorant of his exploits and not even pretend to address the elephant in the room is a disservice to both the reader and the game.
All told, the book is better for the history of baseball it tells than for the scriptural parallels. It could be a good “hook” for someone to begin working their way deeper in the faith, but it can’t be an end in itself.
February 1, 2025
I am a big fan of both God and baseball.
This is a cute little book that stretches to make the comparison between Christianity and baseball. The book is broken down into innings with a top and bottom of a 9-inning game set out for the reader. Each half-inning looks to a topic setting out how the Bible addresses it and also how baseball has addressed it over the years. There will be nothing new to those who are baseball fans and know the Bible. Graf makes large stretches to reach the conclusions he sets out but it is entertaining.
It is nice to read in the dead of winter, looking forward to spring training and God's favorite sport starting up again.
I am not Catholic, which Graf is, but that didn't take away my enjoyment of the book.
This is a cute little book that stretches to make the comparison between Christianity and baseball. The book is broken down into innings with a top and bottom of a 9-inning game set out for the reader. Each half-inning looks to a topic setting out how the Bible addresses it and also how baseball has addressed it over the years. There will be nothing new to those who are baseball fans and know the Bible. Graf makes large stretches to reach the conclusions he sets out but it is entertaining.
It is nice to read in the dead of winter, looking forward to spring training and God's favorite sport starting up again.
I am not Catholic, which Graf is, but that didn't take away my enjoyment of the book.
May 11, 2023
The author brings some decent parallels between the Bible and baseball to light, but seemed to take forever to get to the point.
July 21, 2025
this was SO good and i cannot wait read his book about the parallels between football and the bible!
December 6, 2013
The characters in this book are a 4. The reason for that is because they are factual real-life characters! Most characters were described briefly because they were not the focus of the book. Each chapter of the book consists of a new character and his parallel with the Bible. “But was not the Christ child called a babe? Did not the Babe perform godlike feats on the baseball diamond” (Graf 31). Babe Ruth was had a major mark in baseball history and is compared with baby Jesus in the Bible.
The language in this book is a 3. The grammar and English in this book is somewhat hard to understand. I felt as if the author knew exactly what to say, but couldn’t get it into words. What brings the language score up from a 1 would be the jargon. As a baseball player I can recognize different phrases and words that are commonly used as baseball terms. “This marked the first time in major league history that a team captured the flag after finishing in the cellar” (Graf 120)
The information is a solid 4. Gary Graf’s knowledge of baseball history is phenomenal. Not only does he provide good example of benchmarks in baseball history, but he provides specific scenarios that are key to baseball. His knowledge on the Bible is decent as well! He definitely understands what he believes in. Although the comparisons between the two were somewhat weak, the knowledge was there. “Frank Robinson could hit for average (he had nine seasons of a .300 mark or better), hit for power (as his 586 lifetime home runs attest), run (few people realize that Robinson stole over 200 bases in his career)” (Graf 100). Specific examples such as this support the authors argument.
The theme of this book is a 4. The ultimate purpose of this book is to show the reader a unique way to comprehend the Bible. I think, personally, that the underlying theme is that God calls us to carry out actions just as we should do on the ball field. “Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, relies on teammates understanding their roles and carrying out assigned duties to achieve success. Isn’t God’s kingdom built on exactly the same foundation” (Graf VII foreward).
This book was not as good as I expected. I can somewhat see what the author is trying to say, but his examples and attempts to relate baseball and the Bible are incredibly weak. I expected the book to be more focused on different lessons of baseball rather than its history. I was going into this book hoping to hone my own skills a little bit, but was sadly let down. I would not recommend this book because it is highly confusing to the average reader due to its vague explanations. Graf tends to beat around the bush a often.
The language in this book is a 3. The grammar and English in this book is somewhat hard to understand. I felt as if the author knew exactly what to say, but couldn’t get it into words. What brings the language score up from a 1 would be the jargon. As a baseball player I can recognize different phrases and words that are commonly used as baseball terms. “This marked the first time in major league history that a team captured the flag after finishing in the cellar” (Graf 120)
The information is a solid 4. Gary Graf’s knowledge of baseball history is phenomenal. Not only does he provide good example of benchmarks in baseball history, but he provides specific scenarios that are key to baseball. His knowledge on the Bible is decent as well! He definitely understands what he believes in. Although the comparisons between the two were somewhat weak, the knowledge was there. “Frank Robinson could hit for average (he had nine seasons of a .300 mark or better), hit for power (as his 586 lifetime home runs attest), run (few people realize that Robinson stole over 200 bases in his career)” (Graf 100). Specific examples such as this support the authors argument.
The theme of this book is a 4. The ultimate purpose of this book is to show the reader a unique way to comprehend the Bible. I think, personally, that the underlying theme is that God calls us to carry out actions just as we should do on the ball field. “Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, relies on teammates understanding their roles and carrying out assigned duties to achieve success. Isn’t God’s kingdom built on exactly the same foundation” (Graf VII foreward).
This book was not as good as I expected. I can somewhat see what the author is trying to say, but his examples and attempts to relate baseball and the Bible are incredibly weak. I expected the book to be more focused on different lessons of baseball rather than its history. I was going into this book hoping to hone my own skills a little bit, but was sadly let down. I would not recommend this book because it is highly confusing to the average reader due to its vague explanations. Graf tends to beat around the bush a often.
May 9, 2011
I enjoyed reading this book during Lent. It taught me things that I did not know about the Bible or baseball. The baseball explanations made the Bible stories simpler to understand.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes baseball and wants to learn more about their faith.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes baseball and wants to learn more about their faith.
March 22, 2013
He really worked to connect baseball and faith at times, sometimes more successfully than others. My biggest complaint is his Catholic-centric perspective. When discussing the Trinity, he calls it a Catholic belief. Excuse me?! I think it is a CHRISTIAN belief! Really became annoying.
January 24, 2014
Loved it! A collection of essays from the author about how the bible and baseball are similar. Baseball loving Catholics will enjoy it.
May 30, 2013
Kinda lame.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews