[overview of previous posts, story from 2008]
who is eddie?
one day earlier this year the Lord presented me with an idea to give back to the community. i decided to ask a few dry cleaners to donate any clothes that customers failed to pick up. to my surprise, the first cleaners i asked donated over 100 pieces of clothing. these clothes could be worn to job interviews, church, or other special engagements. i packed these clothes into my toyota 4-runner and drove down to hurt park in downtown atlanta. once i arrived, i parked and wondered how to distribute these clothes to people in need without invading or offending anyone. on the weekends the park is filled with homeless and this particular saturday evening was no different. shortly after, a few college students i had called earlier arrived to participate and we began unloading the clothes and began asking each individual. during this time a man approached and said “hi, my name is eddie and i just wanted to thank you for what you are doing”. we shook hands as he pulled me aside to talk about the ministry. i advised eddie that it was not a ministry, but he just smiled. we spent some time chatting as he stood in line to get some clothes. i was intrigued by the way he conducted himself and from how much he seemed to know about the scripture, i was overwhelmed. before we ended our discussion, he asked me, “tommy i was wondering if you could be able to find me a pair of work boots?” eddie explained that he needed boots because he had been picking up various construction jobs. i told him i would find some for him by the following week and would meet him back at the park. we exchanged cell phone numbers and went our separate ways.
it’s been roughly five months since eddie and i have established this friendship. we met at least once a week for some Bible study. eddie would call me in the mornings to give me a scripture verse for the day. but for the last month, i wasn’t able to meet with eddie because his phone service was cut off. i tried to find him by periodically driving down to hurt park and the cnn center, but my repeated attempts failed. between my work at church, seminary, and family it was difficult to check every day. i began to worry about eddie because we regularly spoke during the week. finally, i received a voice mail from eddie and returned his call after class. it was wonderful to know eddie was alright and even better we would be able to have some fellowship. we scheduled to meet the next day to catch up on the lost month.
when i arrived at hurt park, eddie was saving me a metered parking space. i got out of the car and we greeted one another with a manly hug. i brought him some food and we sat on a bench shaded by a few trees. he explained the reason why his phone was cut off was because he hadn’t paid the bill. the economy was down so there has not been much work for eddie down at the labor pool. we talked about everything that happened with us in the past month. during our conversation eddie paused and looked over at me and said, “tommy there is something that i should tell you that i haven’t told you”. at this point i was thrown off a bit by the abrupt change of mood but i replied, “go ahead, eddie. i’m all ears”. then after shifting his posture a bit, he began with, “you know, tommy, i played baseball,” i sat up straight and turned to him nodding my head, “okay eddie, that’s great, i played baseball too.” i expected eddie to say something completely different, something important. i wanted to chuckle because it was so unexpected. i asked him a few basic questions such as, “what age were you when you started?”, “did you play in high school or college?”, or “what position did you play?” but then he stopped me and said, “no tommy, i used to play for the majors.” what? i didn’t say this but i was thinking it. i was in shock and didn’t know how to respond to eddie’s comment because i didn’t fully believe him. i’ve known eddie for the past five months and we have been completely honest with one another. it didn’t seem right that he would tell me this after all this time we spent with one another, it just didn’t make complete sense. i looked at him to make sure he was the same 53 year old black man I call my friend. then i began sizing him up by comparing him to the ideal major league baseball player and it didn’t match up. so i did what anyone else would do, i asked him: what team did you play on? how many years did you play? what college did you go to? what round did you get drafted in? and many more questions. eddie played for the cincinnati reds, got drafted in 1976 and played until about 1988. i couldn’t believe he had not mentioned this earlier. he continued to answer the rest of my questions in order but i abruptly cut him off, “you played for the reds?” and eddie dragged out the word, “yesss”. “does that mean you played with eric davis?” then eddie told me stories about eric davis i never would have imagined. i couldn’t keep still because i was so excited about all these stories. see, one of the reasons why i chose to play baseball at a young age was because i wanted to be just like eric. i was eric davis every time i played ’sandlot’ baseball with the neighborhood kids. i had every single one of his baseball cards, including the cracker jack card. i was in awe because here i was, sitting with my brother-in-christ, and at one point in his life, he was a big brother figure to my childhood hero. i was so excited. the only thing i wanted to do was to throw the baseball with eddie. i didn’t want to throw with him to see how good he was, maybe a little bit, or because he played professional baseball, but to be completely honest i wanted to throw with him because it’s been a while since i’ve picked up a ball. i asked eddie if he would mind and he said “i have a ball and glove in my bag”. so we headed down to my dorm to pick up my glove and bat then headed to east lake recreation and began tossing. i felt like i was kevin costner in ‘field of dreams’ but a poor seminary kid who has a chance to throw with a professional. eddie told me that he didn’t want to tell me he played because he did not want me to treat him any differently from the others i met with at the park. to be honest, i’m not quite sure that i would have treated him the same as everyone else, he’s right.
after our time on the field we drove to the local zaxby’s for some dinner. we got back on track by discussing how the holy spirit is moving in our lives. we sat and laughed with one another catching up on the story we find ourselves in. one thing i have not mentioned up to this point about eddie is that he is homeless. he has been on the streets for quite some time now because there was a past that got the best of eddie. i don’t want to discuss his personal life but my heart has always gone out to this new brother of mine. the facts are eddie was a major league player, eddie is my friend, eddie believes in Jesus Christ, but eddie is also a homeless man. the world tends to define homeless as people of filth, addiction, lack of ambition, dangerous, ragamuffin, etc. another fact was it was less than 50 degrees outside and the thermometer continued to fall throughout the night. it was extremely difficult to get the worldly views to stop flashing in my head which brought about fear, worry, and concern. but i knew if i was to follow the instructions of my heavenly father i must do as He would do. So i asked eddie if he would want a comfortable bed to sleep in for the night. i didn’t do this because he played baseball, i did it because i felt God tugging at my heart as if God was pleading with me to change my ways.
once we returned to my dorm eddie showered and i gave him some of my clothes to change into. i invited a seminary friend to come join us as we had somewhat of a bible study which was led by eddie. later that night i asked eddie to take my bed for I would sleep on my couch. i overheard eddie saying his prayers which was later followed by the sound of snoring. i am the type of guy who dislikes that sound more than anything in this world but this night was different. the sound brought peace and joy to my heart because i knew that eddie was comfortable and warm. the next morning i was woken by the sound of flipping pages. the sound the pages made was all to familiar to my ears because i could tell that they were thin, the thin sheets of the Bible. i opened one eye to try and focus on the clock which read 5:00 a.m. eddie was doing his morning devotionals. the irony here is that i’m a seminary student who has chosen not to get up and do my own devotions. i got up at 6:45 to head to the cafeteria for work-study for a couple of hours. i returned to the room with some breakfast for eddie. we sat on the couch talking more about baseball and how eddie is a personal baseball coach to a few high school baseball players. we got on the topic of the minor leagues. he began telling me how difficult the lifestyle was but mentioned a name i had never heard before; i wasn’t born until 1981. he said the name paul householder and how paul was the best prospect coming into the majors. eddie said paul was drafted in the first round and kept asking me if i knew who he was. i believe eddie may have been a bit offended with my lack of knowledge but i had to remind him that i was not even a fetus at the time. he went on to tell me they played together in the minors and roommates for almost three years. he told me a story about traveling to various cities to play but not being able to check into any hotel rooms because of his race. even though it was the late 70’s eddie explained that discrimination still existed in areas of the southern states. eddie smiled and laughed saying “it didn’t even matter that i played professional ball but we caught on and paul started getting the rooms”. i asked eddie if he still keeps in touch with paul but he said that after 83′ or 84′ paul got traded to st. louis and communication ended. i asked eddie if he has ever tried to contact or locate paul but because of his living conditions he never had the resources. at this moment i took initiative and looked to what everyone else would rely on in a time like this; google. i searched for paul and found all his baseball stats then eddie stated that paul’s father was a successful automotive dealer. we searched and came up short but then eddie thought he had been told quite some time ago that paul may be in florida. so, after many attempts we found a dealership website which contained an address and phone number. we were hesitant at first not knowing if this was the correct paul householder so i left the decision to eddie, “eddie i have a number here do you want to…?” and before i could even finish the sentence he said with a big grin, “give it to me”. he called being greeted by the automated call center. after waiting patiently for all the options he pressed three which was followed by a dial tone then met with “hello, this is…how may i help you?” he asked to speak with paul householder. the lady on the line asked who was calling and eddie replied with, “this is eddie milner a friend of paul’s” then the lady asked something like “did you play in cincinnati with paul?” eddie said, “yes, i played on the reds with him” and she responded with excitement “i’m an ohio girl! i knew that was you, hold on and let me transfer you”. i asked eddie if he wanted to be left alone so that he may have some time to himself for i didn’t want to be intruding. the call went directly into paul’s voicemail but once it began playing eddie, now standing, looked down at me and said with another huge smile “yeah that’s my friend paul”. eddie left a brief message and then went with me to a chapel service the school administers each day. after service i ushered eddie back to the dorm room and gathered my things to attend my first class. he checked his phone and noticed he had a message. as he checked his voicemail box his stoic face was instantly filled with joy as he smiled ear to ear forming wrinkles on the corners of his eyes and by the lines on his cheeks. i told him i’d be back in a couple of hours but to let me know if paul called him back. after class i rushed over to my dorm and after I opened my green door i noticed eddie on the couch looking at me with the same expression on his face as i left him. now, i’m not sure how long he has been sitting and smiling like that but it was a moment i will never forget. i have never witnessed eddie so happy in the months i have known him.
the reason i am sharing this particular encounter is because of what eddie told me after his conversation with his friend paul. he shared that their conversation was wonderful and backed it up with discussion topics. but it was what he said after this time of sharing that brought everything back to reality. eddie said, “it was great to catch up with an old friend but what made the entire conversation worthwhile was that i had a chance to share my faith.” eddie said it was really brief but he got Jesus into the conversation. eddie told me “i hope there will be many more opportunities to talk to paul about his faith but if it never happens, that’s okay too.” i asked him why he felt like it would be alright to not have another discussion. he paused and responded with, “paul and i are good friends and we go way back, we never talked about Jesus back then, but even if we haven’t spoke for over 20 years paul knows something has changed.”i’ve learned it’s not about what to say or do when trying to evangelize. also, in the process of wanting to evangelize and feeling like we are making a difference, we are the ones getting evangelized to. this experience reminds me about the african missionary coming to the united states for missions and the church member thinking that was crazy but in actuality africa has more christians. we fail to understand that there are people in the world, maybe even next door, that have never had the proper education, no income, not a leader of a church, or even attend seminary; but they just ‘get it’. it’s like trading it all in or losing everything you own for ‘the one special pearl’. eddie’s pearl is his unique and authentic relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. as much as i felt like i was helping and making a difference, it was eddie making a difference in my life, and i was the one being shown the gospel.
original caption: pete rose stretches to get a wild pickoff throw from pitcher marty bystrom as reds eddie milner gets back safely to first base in the 1st inning 7/10. philadelphia won the game, 2-0.
