Former AIA Player Makes it to the “Big Leagues”

The summer of 2001, after his first year at Olivet Nazarene University near Kankakee, Illinois, Ben Zobrist had the opportunity to play summer baseball in Central America (Mexico and Nicaragua) through Athletes in Action; and, at the same time, he had the opportunity to share his love for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The competition was intense against some very good players, but the rewarding experience came after games as they shared the Gospel of Christ and the love of God with their opponents, their opponents’ family and friends.

Ben Zobrist’s experience with AIA is not much different than other Christian college players who play baseball for AIA, but his story does not finish upon his completion of college ball. Ben has become a star utility player for the 2008 American League Champions Tampa Bay Rays.

Ben, son of Rev. Tom and Cindy Zobrist, grew up with four siblings –Jessica, Serena, Peter, and Noah. His time seemed to be occupied with sports and school activities with friends, family activities, and church activities. His parents and his Liberty Bible Church in Eureka, Illinois, have been the biggest influence in his life. Ben shares, “I remember going to church at a very young age. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior around five years old. I heard in Sunday school if we do not accept Christ as our Savior we will go to hell. So out of fear I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I wanted to go to Heaven and not go to hell. I feel it was a great way for God to shed his grace on me by putting fear of Himself into my life to help me understand that I needed Him. That night I talked to Mom and told her I was scared. She told me if I ask Jesus to come into my heart and in my life I don’t have to be afraid.”

Ben grew up in the small town of Eureka, Illinois, home town of Eureka College, alma mater of President Ronald Reagan and of the 1994 NAIA Division II National Basketball Champions. However, it was the Eureka High School Hornets where Ben honed his athletic and academic skills. As for fall sports, cross country coach Brett Charlton said, “Ben was an excellent runner on two very good cross country teams.” He also played football his senior year at wide receiver and did quite well. In the winter Ben put his focus on basketball. “I developed some of my skills and love for the game by attending Coach Dave Darnall’s Eureka College basketball camps.” Ben was a very good basketball player, and his senior year ended with a defeat in the sectional final for their only loss. Finally in the spring, Ben was in his element…baseball. It all started to come together with baseball in the middle school. Coach Craig Gerdes led the baseball team to the state tournament in 7^th grade (4^th place) and 8^th grade (3^rd place). In high school Ben made varsity as a freshman which was the beginning of four good years of high school baseball. Former Eureka baseball coach Bob Gold shared, “Ben was a good player, real smooth and an excellent hitter. It culminated in his senior year, and he had a great season to finish his high school career.”

Ben Zobrist did quite well in the classroom with a 3.98 GPA, and he knew he wanted to go to college. Despite having a great senior year, there were no baseball offers. He decided to go to Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, MO, his father’s alma mater. However, the Lord had different plans.

Growing up, and especially all during high school, Ben’s faith continued to grow. “I did the things to help me grow in my relationship with the Lord- reading, prayer, camps, conferences and attending Sunday school and church.” He was very active in his church, the youth activities and Bible studies. He participated in the high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes huddle group with the adult leader being Coach Gold, even attending a camp at their Resource Center in Indiana. He was a camp counselor at Camp of Champions USA which is a day camp for kids.

“My senior year I realized I was going away from home and was going to make my own choices. So I was scared, not knowing what was ahead, and I started worrying about the future. I hit my knees in prayer and said ‘Okay, Lord, whatever You want me to do and for whatever reason You are allowing this fear into my life, I want You to take it away. My life is Yours and I am not trying to be in charge. As for sports, You can have that too.’ I don’t want any of it if it has no peace in it. I gave everything over to Him. If God wants me to do something else with my life, then that is where I want to be. I know that is where peace, love, and joy are.”

So, it is not surprising what happened next. After graduation, with plans on going to Calvary Bible College, Coach Gold called and told him of a tryout at Brimfield, a small town west of Peoria, where some scouts and college coaches would be attending. “I was not sure” Ben confesses, “whether I should go or not, but because I did not want to quit playing baseball, I went to see what could happen. Each player would take a few ground balls, a few fly balls, throw some, hit some and pitch some, and that was it.” Unbeknownst to Ben, there was a college coach there looking for prospects. Ben continues, “Coach Elliott Johnson of Olivet Nazarene University contacted me and said, ‘I don’t want to take you away from the plans God has for you, but we are looking for solid Christian players to build our baseball program at Olivet.’” The following week, Ben attended a church conference and the theme was “Keeping the Door of your life open to what God maybe wants you to do, regardless what it is.” “The day I got back I got a call from Coach Johnson offering a full ride scholarship, Ben says. “At that point it was blinking lights, God saying ‘let’s go work on baseball at this Christian school.’ I decided that was where God was leading me.”

Ben Zobrist attended school and played baseball at Olivet Nazarene for three years and then that first summer participated in the AIA summer baseball program. At Olivet, Ben focused on his walk with the Lord, but after that his focus turned to baseball. He spent many hours alone in the batting cage, either hitting off a batting tee or bribing his best friend and teammate, Jason Miller, to pitch to him. Also at Olivet, he was introduced to Julianna Gilmore by a senior teammate, Dan Heefner, whose wife (Liz) was Julianna’s sister. But at the time he really was not ready to develop any kind of a relationship, only with the Lord and baseball; the timing was not right.

The summers of 2002 and 2003 Ben played in the Northwoods Summer League for the Wisconsin Woodchucks in Wausau, WI. He was voted the team MVP in 2003. During these years God kept allowing their paths to cross. Ben and Julianna felt God was encouraging them to pursue a relationship. So they began corresponding with each other. Over time their relationship grew, and they realized that the Lord was the One who brought them together.

His senior year Ben transferred to Dallas Baptist University in Texas because “I wanted to know really how good I was.” Baseball is big in the South, especially Texas. He was able to test his skills against some Big 12 schools such as Texas A & M and Baylor. Ben was drafted in the MLB 6^th round of the 2004 June draft by the Houston Astros. Ben went back to Dallas Baptist the fall semester and graduated in December. Ben and Julianna were married the following December 17, 2005, in Iowa City, IA.

The night before Ben left for his first assignment in New York, Ben’s father went to his room to pray with him after a going away party with teachers, coaches, friends and family. Rev. Zobrist said, “Ben told me ‘This is more important to others than it is to me. The way I look at it is I am a missionary but I don’t have to raise support; but I am going out to reach people for Christ whether it is teammates, fans, or whatever.’ And I told him, ‘Here is what is important to me. I don’t care what you do for a living as long as you live for God.’ When Ben left, I felt confident he had his focus right. He was not worried about success in baseball but his service to the Lord.”

Thus began Ben’s quick trip to the Major Leagues. He was sent to the Astros’ New York/Pennsylvania (NY/Penn) League team where he was Tri-City’s MVP and led the league in batting at a .339 clip.

2005 found Ben moved up to the South Atlantic League, was an All-Star, and led Salem with a.333 batting average. He was selected to play for Team USA in the World Cup held in The Netherlands. “That was a great experience to represent our country in international competition, “ Ben claimed.

The 2006 season was one that saw a quick climb starting in Double A ball in Corpus Christi in the Texas League where he was doing well and made the Texas League All-Star Team. Then in the middle of July, Ben was traded from the Astros organization to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays organization. The Rays sent him to Triple A at Durham, N.C. The parent team called him up August 1^st. He spent the rest of that season with the Rays. His first RBI came on a squeeze bunt on August 2^nd against Detroit. His first hit came on August 4^th on a single against Curt Schilling. The first homerun Ben hit was against Boston’s Jason Johnson on August 6^th which was just his 6^th game. He finished the season batting .224 average, and he then headed for the Arizona Fall League.

Ben’s 2007 season was an up and down affair. He started with the Rays and then, not playing well, he was sent down to the Triple A Durham team. “I wondered why God allowed this to happen and I started to have lots of doubts. Where is baseball going to fit into all of this? I did not have much peace. You find everything is not rosy and things are not always going to happen the way you want. But God allows things to happen the way He wants, and we need to accept it happily and joyfully and to love Him through things that don’t happen the way we would like in life. The Bible says: ’For all things work together for good with those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.’(Romans 8:28) I realized there are plenty of souls in Triple A and all around that need the Lord and need to see attitude of love and hope through Christ. Being sent up and down in both 2007 and 2008 was a great lesson for me. I had a prideful and wrong attitude of success. Success is not of this world.”

The last part of the 2008 season became very exciting as the Rays won the American League Championship before falling to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. “God was saying to me keep working, keep glorifying Me; wherever you are,’ don’t grow weary in doing good for in due time, you will reap.’ “(Galatians 6:9) Ben ended up being on the playoff roster, playing some in ALCS and starting two games in the World Series. “I am learning to enjoy the experience God put me in at the moment and glorifying Him in that. The World Series…Wow!”

One could talk a lot about Ben’s major league exploits especially the beginning of this 2009 season with a couple of grand slams and some other timely hits and his ability to play three infield positions and three outfield positions. Teammate Brian Shouse comments, “Ben is the kind of player you would want on your team…he plays hard, he wants to learn and improve, and he has a great attitude. Right now he is playing excellent baseball, having taken advantage of more playing time because of our injuries.” As impressed as Shouse is of Ben’s baseball, he is more so as a person. “Ben is a devoted family man who is absolutely tickled to be a husband and father. He is a very active Christian who loves sharing the Gospel of Christ with others, and he looks for ways he can help and encourage others in their walk in life. He loves the Lord and he has found peace and joy in his life through his faith in Jesus.”

Another teammate Gabe Gross added, “Ben, the teammate we call Zorilla for his monster homeruns, has had to work hard his whole career, and he has had a tremendous start this season. He has come up with some very timely hits for our team, and often the big hits have been a homerun.” The first thought that comes to Gross about Ben as a person is “uncompromising.” “Ben’s faith, his belief in Christ as his Savior covers every aspect of his life. He does not short change his faith. He lives it; that is who he is.”

However much you want to talk baseball, there are two things that are more important in Ben’s life than his baseball world. They are his faith in God through his loving Savior, Jesus, and his family and friends. Ben has always been close to his parents, grandparents, and siblings. Rev. Zobrist commented, “Ben has not felt himself more important or better than others. He is very good about staying in touch; and as busy as a professional ball player is, he will take the time to call his grandparents, us, and his brothers and sisters. Family is important to him.”

Of course, the new family members have been his wife, Julianna, and their son, Zion Benjamin, born just this February. “Julianna has been just a wonderful, supportive and loving wife, having to ‘roll with the punches’ with all the travel and away time. She is a professional singer of Christian music with her CD recently released. We support each other with the things we love doing individually.” With Julianna’s singing career, their off season home is in Nashville, Tennessee, in  the same town where she attended Belmont University and continues to have friends and colleagues in the music industry. Ben states, “When it comes to Zion, God has truly blessed us with a most precious gift. It is so exciting to see each day the new things he does. Both of our parents are just thrilled and they try to come see him when they can.”

Ben’s top priority is his walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. His favorite Bible verses are Colossians Chapter 3: vs 1-4: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Ben feels, “It is replacing me in my life with Christ. I want people to see that the Spirit of God lives in me.”

Ben also says I John 2:15 is important to him. It says: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.” It is important to Ben to focus on loving God more than the world or things of the world. “When I dream of Major League baseball, I don’t dream of fame, fortune or popularity; but for me, if God allows me to play, I will have a different perspective to direct people back to the Lord.” Ben and Julianna take their commitment to love God more than the world and to profess the love of the Lord very seriously. Ben shares his faith through a baseball card with his testimony. He speaks at churches and church youth groups, and at Fellowship of Christian Athletes events and both Ben and Julianna are active in their local Community Bible Church in Nashville. Ben lets people know that he personally cares about them, and he lets people know what is most important in his life. Julianna shares her faith in song, beautifully expressed in her CD “The Tree.” Together, witnessing their faith in the Lord Jesus brings out the best in each of them.

The 2009 season for the Tampa Bay Rays continues, and Ben will continue to work hard to do the best job possible on the field, knowing “if the Lord is with you, who can be against you!” (Romans 8:31)

By Mark Darnall and Bruce Darnall

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