Utility Players Secure

UTILITY PLAYERS SECURE their spot on baseball rosters by being able to play multiple positions. In 1999, Scott Sheldon proved to be one of the most useful players of all time.

The 30-year-old rookie played every position except pitcher for the Texas Rangers during a spring training game, which locked in a spot for him on the team. Then late in the regular season, Rangers manager Johnny Oates decided to give Sheldon a chance to make history.

Mired in last place and trailing the Chicago White Sox 10–1 in the second inning, Oates informed Chicago manager Jerry Manuel of his idea and put Sheldon in the game as catcher in the fourth inning. After moving to first base for the fifth, Sheldon played second and short in the sixth, and right and center field in the seventh.

In the eighth inning, the versatile player opened at left field and with one out shifted to the mound. Facing pinch hitter Jeff Liefer, Sheldon struck him out swinging on five pitches. Without hesitation, he tossed the ball to Oates and moved to third base for the Rangers’ final defensive out in the 13–1 loss.

By playing all nine positions in a single game, Sheldon joined Bert Campaneris and Cesar Tovar as the only players in major league history to accomplish this unique feat.

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POINT Anyone who can play every position and strike out a batter helps a team. Even though the Rangers lost, Johnny Oates’s experiment proved Scott Sheldon’s versatility.

The Bible tells about another useful person in a 25-verse book. Philemon, tucked between Titus and Hebrews in the New Testament, describes Onesimus’s story. He was a slave who had run away to Rome. There he met Paul and became a Christian.

Paul pled with Philemon to forgive Onesimus because of his usefulness to Paul while the apostle was in prison. He urged Philemon to treat Onesimus as a Christian brother rather than punishing him as a runaway slave.

GOAL! Read the book of Philemon. If Onesimus had been your runaway slave, how would you have treated him after hearing Paul’s pleas? How can you be useful to God?