Baker using holy water for cubs injuries

[IlliniKrush]

Sorry but this crap is weird, Baker is one strange character

 

Is Baker's latest revelation all wet?

 

Rick Morrissey

 

April 13, 2005

 

Dusty Baker has taken to rubbing holy water on the injured parts of Cubs players. This could explain why third baseman Aramis Ramirez was so adamant Tuesday that he did not have a strained groin.

 

Baker is a deeply spiritual man who is open to all sorts of religions and ideas. He attends churches of various Christian denominations. He has dabbled in Eastern philosophy and New Age ideology.

 

He went to a spiritual healing center in Hawaii before having surgery for prostate cancer in 2001.

 

During the 2003 season, he sprinkled a dirt-like substance on the Wrigley Field grass but refused to say what it was unless the Cubs won the World Series. He should have sprinkled some on Alex Gonzalez's glove.

 

Four months ago, when Cubs media relations director Sharon Pannozzo brought him holy water that had been blessed by Pope John Paul II, Baker didn't hesitate. He isn't Catholic, but he isn't dumb either.

 

"It's about as close to holy medicine as you can get," Baker said.

 

Holy water, according to the Baltimore Catechism, "is water blessed by the priest with solemn prayer, to beg God's blessing on those who use it, and [His] protection from the powers of darkness."

 

Cubs fans like to refer to the "powers of darkness" as the "conclave of St. Louis Cardinals."

 

Baker said he poured some of the water on Mark Prior's inflamed right elbow during spring training. Rain postponed Prior's first start of the season Tuesday, and it spawned more than a few theological discussions. You can look at Tuesday's steady drizzle at least two ways:

 

It was a higher power's way of saying Prior's elbow needed one more day of healing.

 

It rains a lot this time of year.

 

Either way, Prior is scheduled to pitch against the Padres in the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday. He wasn't available for comment Tuesday, but there have been no indications he has a problem with his manager's spiritual ministrations.

 

Some of the players seem to appreciate Baker's ecumenism.

 

"That's why we have a fun team," center fielder Corey Patterson said. "Everyone has their own little superstitions or whatever. That's why the world is made of different people. You get to meet different people and see different attitudes and have fun. If everyone was the same, it would be boring. That's why I like this team."

 

If I'm Baker, I go all the way with this. I pour holy water on the head of general manager Jim Hendry—not to baptize him, but to get it across that the Cubs need a legitimate closer. I spray holy water on the aging, crumbling cement at Wrigley, you know, just in case. I dump some of it on a billy goat for the ultimate battle of good vs. evil. At the very least, a goat gets a bath and the world is a better place.

 

Baker is serious about his spirituality. One writer continues to refer to the manager in print as "the Rev. Johnnie B. Baker," even though Baker has said publicly he considers it a mockery of his beliefs. He believes there is good power and bad power in the world, that there's light and darkness. He sees holy water on the side of good. That's enough for him.

 

"I'm not Catholic, my wife's Catholic," he said. "I go to Catholic church even though I'm not Catholic. I go sit up there by myself, just praying and putting a little holy water on myself. There's something to it. It's not like it's voodoo or something.

 

"It's blessed. I didn't bless it. It wouldn't work if I blessed it. I just hope that my sinning doesn't negate the effectiveness of the water."

 

He laughed. Baker isn't pushy with his beliefs, doesn't force them on his listening audience during postgame news conferences. After a Cubs' victory, he doesn't say God willed it. He doesn't chalk it up to the power of crystal refraction or a Zen koan either. He says the Cubs hit better or pitched better.

 

I asked Kerry Wood whether Baker had used holy water on him when Wood had bursitis in his shoulder during spring training. Wood looked at me as if I were either an alien from outer space or someone who had wandered away from a sweat lodge. He didn't know anything about Baker's use of the water.

 

This tells me Baker missed an injury and Wood's right arm could fall off at any moment. Baker might want to rush order a vat from the Vatican.

Edited April 13, 2005 by IlliniKrush

[Queen Prawn]

I have to admit I find this some what sacrilegious...

[southsider2k5]

And obviously it has been working :rolly

[Goldmember]

Somewhere there's a stolen halo

I use to watch her wear it well

Everything would shine wherever she would go

But looking at her now you'd never tell

 

Someone ran away with her innocence

A memory she can't get out of her head

I can only imagine what she's feeling

When she's praying

Kneeling at the edge of her bed

 

And she says take me away

And take me farther

Surround me now

And hold, hold, hold me like holy water

Holy water

 

She wants someone to call her angel

Someone to put the light back in her eyes

She's looking through the faces

The unfamiliar places

She needs someone to hear her when she crys

 

And she says take me away

And take me farther

Surround me now

And hold, hold, hold me like holy water

Holy water

 

She just needs a little help

To wash away the pain she's felt

She wants to feel the healing hands

Of someone who understands

 

And she says take me away

And take me farther

Surround me now

And hold, hold, hold me

And she says take me away

And take me farther

Surround me now

And hold, hold, hold me like holy water

Holy water

 

sorry, best i could do...

Edited April 13, 2005 by Goldmember

[Chisoxfn]

Regardless of this, Baker is a frickin retard with his pitching staff.

[jackie hayes]

A little off-topic, but I loved the line, "He isn't Catholic, but he isn't dumb either." Reminded me of Royko for some reason.

[DonkeyKongerko]

Yeah the same "holy water" that Moistest Alou used.