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No more gazing heavenward, ballplayers

In the Aug. 11 Daily Herald Sports Section, we see a picture of White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada crossing home plate after hitting a home run, and the caption simply reads, "White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada tied Thursday's game at Guaranteed Rate Field with a ninth-inning homer."

Moncada is gazing skyward and has his right arm raised pointing to the heavens. So a more accurate caption would have been, "Yoan Moncada, as he crosses home plate after hitting his ninth-inning home run, looks heavenward as he thanks God for helping him hit that homer." But that would not be nice because Moncada would be telling us that God favored him in helping him hit that homer while disfavoring the opposing pitcher who threw that pitch to him. So journalists never report it that way, and in this case just used the words, "Moncada tied Thursday's game at Guaranteed Rate Field with a ninth-inning homer."

However, I think the solution would be for the Baseball Commissioner to issue a directive that players must cease the practice of gazing heavenward and raising their arm skyward upon hitting a home run. That would keep religion out of professional baseball contests.

Theodore M. Utchen

Wheaton

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