Pro Baseball Pitcher: 'Faith Is More Than Rules'

CHICAGO (September 12, 2000) - A Christian since childhood, Tim Worrell had experienced the best feelings a professional baseball pitcher could feel, including winning a division championship and throwing a no-hitter.

Until two years ago, however, the 33-year-old Worrell wasn't feeling content about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Now a relief pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Worrell credits his "new hope in Christ" in part to the spiritual stability provided at New Hope Covenant Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Given that his job has taken him to six major league teams and eight minor league organizations, Worrell doesn't take that stability for granted.

Although the Cubs have struggled this season, Worrell has been a pleasant surprise, posting a team-best 2.78 earned run average (ERA). Worrell, who started the season with the Baltimore Orioles, is 5-5 with a 3.32 ERA in 2000. His career record is 25-37 in 291 games.

A native of Pasadena, California, Worrell grew up in an interdenominational church and a Christian home. Despite attending a Christian high school and a Christian university, he said it was only recently that his faith became real and personal.

"I'm not a theologian by any means, but I had a lot of basic knowledge of Christian faith and right and wrong and what you were supposed to do as a Christian," Worrell said. "But, a lot of it didn't click for me because it was just rules, it was just a list of do's and don'ts. I had accepted Christ, but there was never a personal connection."

In October 1998, Worrell, his wife Misty, and sons Kaleb and Austin were set to move into a home just outside Phoenix. In some ways, he was hoping for a new change in his faith as well.

A new Covenant church meeting at a local elementary school sent a card inviting the family to a worship service. Austin became ill the next Sunday and the family thought of staying home; however, Tim and son Kaleb attended the service anyway. Given the fact that his in-laws and their family also attend New Hope, it is safe to say Tim and Misty have found a church home.

"We were finding every excuse in the book not to go to church," Worrell said. The biggest excuse was the driving distance to various churches - the family planned to check out three or four local churches closer to home. In the end, it was what Worrell described as the "honesty" of the church and it's pastor, Richard Parrish, that won their hearts. "The pastor spoke from experience and from his heart and I told my wife, 'I think we found a church home.' It has been really good for our family and our life."

Because his brother Todd pitched 11 seasons in the major leagues, Tim had opportunities to see major league life up close during many family visits. Tim went on to appear regularly in major league clubhouses because of his own talents.

A 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-hander, Worrell was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 20th round of the 1989 free agent draft after earning All-District honors for Biola University in California. He signed with San Diego a year later and fanned one batter per inning during two of his first four minor league seasons, tossing a no-hitter for San Diego's Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas in 1992. He made his big league debut for the Padres in 1993, a pitcher who admits that his Christian habits could be described as "a bit outside the strike zone."

"I grew up thinking 'this was wrong and this was right'," Worrell said of his Christian upbringing. "Because I did know right and wrong (in the early years of his professional baseball career) and because I know the things I was choosing to do were wrong, I had trouble coming to God with those sins. It was a very risky thing to do, putting God on the back burner."

An elbow injury curtailed his progress as a major league pitcher for two years, yet Worrell still managed to climb the ladder of baseball success. Worrell had his best major league season in 1996, helping the Padres win the National League West Division title by posting a 9-7 record. During that season he held hitters to a minuscule .137 average as a relief pitcher (the league's best) and served as a spot starter for part of the season. Still, Worrell admits "it was not a happy life for me, I didn't have any joy in my life. In my life, in my marriage, I knew there had to be more."

On a professional level, things would become even less joyful. He struggled after being traded to the Detroit Tigers. He ended up playing for the Cleveland Indians and the Oakland A's within a two-year span.

"One of my biggest struggles was that I spent my time with this attitude that I was going to clean up my life by myself and not give it to God," Worrell said. "It took being taken down to the point where I realized I couldn't do it before I went to Him. I still struggle with thinking I can do it on my own . . . and a lot of that thinking helped me get to where I'm at (as a pro pitcher)," he continued.

What makes his Christian life different these days? Worrell said reading devotional material gets his days off to a good start. He completed a Reading-the-Bible-in-a-Year program and spends more time talking to God than in the past. Worrell has also found practical help in following Christ through the support of fellow Cubs relief pitcher Todd Van Poppel. The combination seems to have helped him both on and off the mound.

"There have been struggles changing patterns in my life where I let Satan get a foothold," Worrell said. "The last couple of years have been a process of changing the things I can change in where I go and what I do. The biggest thing for me is in changing why I do the things I do," he continued.

"I'm a more joyful person now - I can still have a bad day and be all right," he observed. "There are many days when I'm not perfect, but we're not asked to be perfect anyway. It hasn't changed how I go about my business on the field, how I go about my work," he continued. "But it's helped me not be negative. He helps me deal with the day, whatever it presents. My day-to-day walk with the Lord makes a difference in my day-to-day life."

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