Teammates

In 2003 David Halberstam wrote Teammates, a book detailing the friendship of four men who played for the Boston Red Sox during the 1940’s, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky. That book still sits on my bookshelf and reminds me about my need for friendship and community with other guys.

Here’s an excerpt on their friendship.

“It was something unusual in baseball: four men who played for one team, who became good friends, and who remained friends for the rest of their lives. Their lives were forever linked through a thousand boxes cores, through long hours of traveling on trains together, through shared moments of triumph, and even more in the case of the Red Sox, through shared moments of disappointment. There were aware that they had been unusually lucky not just in the successful quality of their careers, but also in the richness of the friendships they had made.”

We need close friends, not just people we say hello to when we see them at Wal-Mart but those who know us deeply, our triumphs and our disappointments, and pray for us, laugh with us, and mourn with us. As leaders this need is even greater in our lives. Leading alone is dangerous and draining. Reading through the New Testament we see over and over again the benefits of believers leading within community and leading together in close friendships.

Here are a few that stand out in the book and in Scripture.

1) Encouragement

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we’re told of Jesus sending the disciples out to proclaim the kingdom of God. The account in Mark 6 tells us that Jesus sent them out two by two. I find it interesting that Jesus told them where they were going (the lost sheep of Israel), what to say (proclaim the kingdom of God), what to take (nothing extra, essentially what they were wearing), but He didn’t want them going alone. I think that shows the value of friendships.

Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, and has not another to lift him up…a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

The greatest examples of encouragement in the friendship of Williams, Dom DiMaggio, Doerr, and Pesky came after their baseball careers.

In 1962, Dom was diagnosed with Paget’s disease which causes enlarged or deformed bones, and would cause DiMaggio to bend way over. In 1983, Pesky began to lose weight; he dropped from 170 lbs. to 130 lbs. They were concerned he may have cancer, but finally the doctors found out he had become allergic to wheat. For Bobby Doer, his wife developed multiple sclerosis in the 1940’s, and then suffered multiple strokes in 1999. Through all of this they would rally around each other with visits and phone calls because of their deep love and care for each other. Even the book itself was written because of Pesky and DiMaggio taking a road trip to Florida in 2001 to see Ted as his health deteriorated, he would pass away the following summer. These four friends would continue to be an encouragement to each other for 60 years.

2) Accountability

Even the apostles needed someone to hold them accountable. In Galatians 2, Peter is eating with the Gentiles until some of the Jewish believers show up, then it says Peter withdraws from the Gentiles because the Jews might think less of him for eating with non-Jews. Jews did not eat with Gentiles because they were uncircumcised and didn’t follow the law of Moses. Because Peter is one of the leaders of the early church, other Jews join him, even Barnabas. Paul confronts Peter on this. In Acts 15, Paul and Peter along with other apostles and elders of the church declared that if the Holy Spirit made no distinction between Jew and Gentile believers and if both are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, then why would we place a “yoke on their neck” that they can’t bear.

In other words, Paul was telling Peter, don’t hold them to a standard even you don’t keep and since we aren’t saved through the law or circumcision, if they are believers in Christ then there is no distinction between us.

In the 1940’s Ted Williams was maybe the best player in the game, most people considered him the best hitter of his era and some believe he is still the greatest of all time. So needless to say when he talked, whether it was true or not, people listened. Except for Dom DiMaggio, being a close friend of Ted’s, he wasn’t star-struck when Ted spoke. Once after a game, Williams was holding court and everyone was agreeing with him. When Ted looked over at DiMaggio, Dom had a smile on his face.

Williams interrupted what he was saying, looked over and said, “Dommy, you think I’ full of crap don’t you?”

“Why do you ask that?” Dom replied.

“Because the look on your face says so.” Ted knew that Dominic DiMaggio wasn’t going to just agree with whatever he said and he respected him for it.

It’s often said that only Bobby Doerr could correct Ted Williams when he got out of sync as a hitter. The fact that Ted would listen to Bobby critique his swing showed the amount of trust and respect he had for Bobby Doerr.

We all need people like that in our life. If not we can become like Peter and not realize we are making a mistake, and as Peter did, we can unintentionally lead others astray.

3) Community/Fun
Several times in the New Testament, Paul writes that he hopes to visit those he is writing to because it will bring him great joy. In 2nd John, he says that he hopes to visit those receiving his letter because it will make his joy complete. In Acts 20 when Paul leaves the believers, “37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. Seems like the New Testament believers really loved each other and enjoyed being together.

I think this is the one I miss out on the most, and it takes being together in order to build a friendship to the point of having accountability and encouragement. My tendency is to just get through the day or the week until I can have some time to myself, which usually ends up with me in front of the TV. Instead I need to plan time with friends because the time is coming when I will face a difficult situation and I will need encouragement, and then there will be a time when I will stray from the way of Christ and I will need a true friend to confront me in love and grace.

This friendship among Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and Johnny Pesky developed over years of doing life together, making it a shared experience.

How great is this need today among believers in Christ.

Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

Proverbs 18:24 “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”