It was the best of days. . . and it was the worst of days for 13-year-old Steve Saner.
On April 15, 1959, Saner did what he had done on many prior days as a school-attending Cincinnati-Reds-loving young teenage baseball fan: he skipped school and went to Crosley field to watch his beloved Reds. According to Saner, who’s now 80-years-old, he would leave home with his parents believing he was headed to school, and he would show up at the field, moving around the stadium during the game in the hope of grabbling a ball that was hit foul or fair into the stands.
That day in April wound up being memorable for a couple of reasons. First, he put himself in the right place at the right time as the Reds’ outfielder Jerry Lynch stepped to the plate. Lynch made contact, sending the ball over the right field fence and into the bleachers, just over the glove of the leaping Pirates’ right-fielder, Roberto Clemente. As luck would have it, Saner grabbed the ball.
But that day was memorable for Saner in another way too. As (bad) luck would have it, Saner found himself in a “Coldplay concert moment” thanks to a photographer catching a stunning image of the exact moment the ball left the park. . . and that photo being published for all – including Saner’s father- to see later that evening when he was – of all things – taking his Cub Scout troop on a tour of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s press room. While walking through the press room on the tour, Saner’s dad caught a glimpse of the photo that was eventually going to get published! Poor Steve Saner! And yes, Saner was punished.
This is the kind of stuff you can’t make up! I don’t know about you, but as a baseball-loving one-time-kid myself, this one makes me laugh. Today, Saner laughs about it as well as he thinks back on that events of that day.
As I read this story I thought about what it means to be a parent in today’s world. We’re raising little sinners whose impulsivity often-times leads them to indulge their sin nature without much discipline or forethought. That means that as their parents, one prayer we need to constantly pray is this: “Lord, expose their sin now so that we can address it and steer them away from it while they are still under our care.”
Perhaps you can use this image and its back-story as a teachable moment with your kids as you launch them on the road to Christian maturity!
