For what it's worth, you may remember there's battle lines being drawn. Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong, young people speaking their minds. Welcome to In the Bullpen with Mark Dewey, brought to you by developing Contenders Ministry. We're listening to the Fight Lap Feast Network. Thank you for joining us. And look who's coming up. I'm live on the right field. She is God! When Steven stills pinned the words I used in today's introduction and titled the song What He Did, a song sung by Buffalo Springfield, he was expressing his concern, there's something happening here. The here, the impetus for the song was not the Vietnam War. Application of that song to the Vietnam War was made by many, but it actually had to do with an event that took place on Sunset Strip. It took place in 1966. It was referred to as the Sunset Strip riots. The words, there's battle lines being drawn, nobody's right if everybody's wrong. They were written to indicate his belief that both the authorities and the protesters were contributing to the conflict, a conflict which at times became violent. And the words conveyed the truth that may be in some degree anyway, may be millennia old. Something we have often referred to as the generation gap. In the words, stop children, what's that sound? Everybody who look what's going down, where a call to be aware, to pay attention to what was happening. I trust that you can see there are important similarities between our day and 60 years ago, and I hope also that you notice there are significant differences. I at least won occasion and I think more than one occasion in the first six seasons of In the Bullpen, I compared the younger generation of our day to Rea Bowen, Solomon's son who followed his father as King of Israel. I pointed out the fact that we read these words in first Kings 12, but he forsook the council of the elders which they had given him and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him. In my Bible, at the top of chapter 12 in first Kings, I wrote these words, a top 10 problem in our day. And then next to verse 8, which is the verse I just read for you, I wrote, search until you get the response you're looking for. But having brought this up at least one past episode of In the Bullpen, I reflected on it a bit. And I realized that I needed to issue an apology for what I said, and I did issue that apology. Now in case you missed it, it was an apology not to the young generation in our day, but to Rea Bowen. Because even though it is highly likely that Rea Bowen was only engaging in eyewash when he consulted with the elders who had served his father, at least he asked for their input and counsel. So many people today don't consider doing that at all. Where shit, they don't simply ignore those who have been there done that, but disrespect, ridicule, and denounce the older generation. As I said, generational conflict is nothing new. What may be new is the way it's evidenced in our day. You may be wondering why I've opened this episode in this manner. After all, college baseball started a couple of weeks ago, spring training games, a couple of days ago, and the world baseball classic is only about 10 days away. I delight in all of these things. I have interest in all of these things. I have great interest in the world baseball classic. There are a number of teams involved in which I have a rooting interest for. And for most obviously, the team from the United States, this is where I've lived my entire life. But also the Dominican Republic team, because I was blessed to spend a lot of time in the DR. I also have close brothers involved in significant ways. David Nilsson, who has been a guest actually two times, the only two time guest in the bullpen is managing team Australia. Ned Colletti is the general manager of team Italy. Also, Ned being a guest in the bullpen. And Dusty Baker, the first ever guest in the bullpen, is manager of the team from Nicaragua. So I'm very much looking forward to next Wednesday in the days that follow in the world baseball classic. I'm also confident that I like you and most of us at our baseball fans, regardless of our age or experience in and around the game, would agree this is a great time of the year. And all of us, at least I hope all of us, take great pleasure in the sounds of spring. Sounds like this. A guy who was a synonymous with his franchise over the last six years anyway. Alonso drives a ball to deep left field, the first of many. Absolute hammer jobs for Pete Alonso, Baltimore Oriole. The all time New York Metz home run leader goes deep in his first game as a Baltimore Oriole, a towering two-run drive at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. Again, I wanted to just alert us to the sound of the bat hitting the ball of a major league baseball player, especially somebody like Pete Alonso. It is a different sound. And hearing that sound and the crowd and all of that is wonderful. It was not only his first home run in spring training and his first home run in an Oriole's uniform. It was the first home run in spring training in Major League Baseball this year. And I think we can all enjoy that. Well, most of us, obviously Oriole's fans more so than Metz fans. And I apologize to AD right now that he had to listen to that a second time. We enjoy those kind of things. We also enjoy talk about baseball. I mentioned that Dusty Baker is managing in the World Baseball Classic. Ken Griffey Jr. is an ambassador in the World Baseball Classic. And they were recently, I think, about a week ago or so on Hot Stove. And here, Harold Reynolds asks Jr. a question. You know, Jr. We just showed you get a base hit when you were playing as a player in the WBC. My question is, like, if you're Judge or Otani, that are the name guys, which you were in your time, is that more pressure than, like, even an all-star gamer, Reg with season two, perform? Yeah. Because you're not just doing it for the fans. You're doing it for everybody that is born and raised in the U.S. And that's the key is like, we going there. And you look at how, you know, other countries, how they supply the passion. And that's what we need to do is bring back that passion by the game that we make so popular. So I delight to watch and hear such things like the last two clips. And I'm grateful to the Lord for this wonderful game that I have spent virtually my entire life in and around. I'm grateful for the country I've been a citizen of for 62 years. And most of all, for my Savior, King Jesus, who I had the privilege of serving with joy. And he is the one who has blessed us all with these wonderful gifts. In the first two episodes of the 2026 season of In the Bullpen, I asked questions. The first episode this year, I asked, are you mad? The second episode, are you ready? And when I asked the question, are you mad, it was a twofold way of the use of the word mad. As in, are you angry or are you outside your mind? And when I asked, are you ready, I said, if you're mad in either one of those ways, you are not ready. But if you are not mad in either one of those ways, are you ready to engage in conversation about the game? What's happening in the game, both on and off the field, where it is at least apparently that the game is headed from majorly baseball to youth levels of baseball. And so on this third episode of 2026, I have a third question. Are you serious? Now you may be thinking, well, I don't want to answer that question until I understand what you mean by that question. What I mean is this, do you truly want what's best for the game, those in it, the fans of it? And if we say we are seeking what is good, true, and beautiful in and about the game, if we're serious, we realize we have to have an objective, unchanging standard to measure such things. Not only is it true that if nobody's right, everybody's wrong, it's also true that nobody's wrong if everybody's right. To put it differently. If it's all a matter of one's own opinion or the prevailing view of a particular generation old or young, if the so-called numbers that don't lie are the final arbiter of things, I will argue we are mad as in outside our minds, and likely it will lead to being mad as an angry. If so, we are not ready to engage in serious and beneficial conversation. And that's true, regardless of how clever, tenacious, or even violent we may be as keyboard warriors. We have to get out of our silos. And I mean that in at least two different ways. First, I believe we are living in the smallest echo chamber in world history. And second, we need to stop thinking that one thing often has no relation or impact on another. Exhibit A. To think that gambling, especially as it's promoted and celebrated by Major League Baseball, has no impact on what happens on the field, or in the life of those who put on a uniform, or the lives of fans, or the very fabric of our culture is at best. Naive. Look around. And then, as one former Major League Baseball player likes to do often, ask the question, how are we doing? And then I encourage us to ask an additional question, how do we know how we are doing? How do we truly know? The biggest story in baseball last week is more significant and far reaching than what may first appear to many. And a lot of people understand how very significant and far reaching it is. Surprisingly, and though I believe this word is used overused way, way too much, I think it's appropriate here. Even shockingly, on Tuesday morning last week, there was an announcement. It was reported that Tony Clark was preparing to announce his resignation as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He has been the executive director since 2013. When that first came out, when that news broke, from what I could see most people, including people that would be in the know, believed it had something to do with financial improprieties by Tony Clark. So on the Major League Baseball Trade Rumors website, they wrote this, quote, The 53 year old Clark and the Union have been under investigation since last summer due to purported improprieties regarding the usage of licensing money. Specifically, Clark has previously been alleged to have given himself equity in one team partners, a joint venture between MLBPA and the NFLPA. And he failed to have sufficiently disclosed the level of resources being dedicated to players way, an MLBPA owned youth baseball initiative that is under federal investigation. And so people thought that maybe there was going to be there were going to be charges coming down or something along those lines. But in a very short period of time, a few hours at the most, there was a different announcement made. And that was this that multiple record reports were saying that the reason Tony Clark resigned was because there had been a federal investigation and that investigation revealed that he had and, again, quote unquote, inappropriate relationship with his sister in law, who was hired to work for the players union. Back in 20, 23. So what are we to make of this? Are we serious in having a conversation about it? Do we think that A likely has nothing to do with B or C or D or go on and on and on? I for one. And then a loss to understand how so many in the media in the game and the like could dub this and quote unquote inappropriate relationship. I've read nothing accusing Tony Clark of rape. It appears to have been a completely consensual relationship between Tony Clark and his sister in law. For years, I and all of the men that I worked with in player development, as well as all of the players at least at the minor league level were required to attend a meeting every spring training where every year, year after year, there was a video played and a message loudly and clearly sent and the message is real simple consent is everything. I don't know if this video is still required viewing. I don't know if this message is still being pounded into the heads of people that are involved in professional baseball. I do know that this is a view. The view consent is everything that is undoubtedly common among a lot of people. But here's the thing we cannot on the one hand say consent is everything and then on the other hand say that any consensual relationship is inappropriate. Well, we can't do so unless we want to be what a former professor I had said delightfully inconsistent. I'm bringing this up today not because I'm going after Tony Clark nor am I in any way defending Tony Clark. I have been praying for him and especially his wife. Rather what I'm doing is seeking to demonstrate that we are not serious about the game, those in it, fans of it, the direction it's taking, the impact it's having on our communities and nations, if we are not serious about pursuing what is objectively good, true and beautiful. I have to admit and I do so readily. I do not follow all of the transactions, the news stories, the latest hot topics in the game of baseball. It is likely you may do so at a greater extent than I do. I also have realized this being the seventh year that in the bullpen is not going to bring you any breaking news or almost none. I have very little insider information, the podcast drops once a week on Monday. So unless something newsworthy broke Sunday night or Monday morning, it's unlikely that I will be the first one who conveys the news to you. I also realize I cannot remotely compete with the Major League Baseball Network or ESPN, not that I'd want to compete with ESPN. I can't compete with a large number of baseball shows and podcasts. So the question I ask myself, maybe the question that you ask, so why is there a podcast that is known as In the Bullpen with Mark Dewey? Well, what I hope I'm able to do is to look at the game, engage in debates about the game, give counsel advice warnings regarding the potential future of the game at all levels from a biblical perspective. From the only source of an errant and infallible truth, goodness and beauty to which we have access. The message that I've been trying to convey for the first six seasons that I'm trying to convey in season seven of In the Bullpen is about the game, but goes well beyond it. What I am trying to do, I think, is summed up very well by Paul Washer. As she gentlemen, listen to me. We were made for war. We weren't made for retirement. We weren't made for walking around some silly field with a stick knocking a ball in a hole. We were made for war. We were made to live for Christ with every bit of our being. We were made to serve Him. We were made to find delights in the scars. We were made to serve it all. Take nothing. Serve Him. Serve the wife. Serve the children. Serve my family. Serve the church. Serve the world with the gospel. And then die and be forgotten all for His glory. Are you a warrior? Do you desire to be a warrior? Are you serious? Serious about baseball? Serious about life. If so, realize and remember, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are called to get our eyes up, fix on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith, and we are to be ready to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. Serve King Jesus by serving others. Seek to destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And as you do so, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Every thought, every thought about the game of baseball, which is a wonderful part of our lives, and every thought about life itself. Give it all, take nothing, then die and be forgotten all for His glory. Men, women and children who do so aren't mad, despite what the world says. Instead, such people are ready. And they are most definitely serious. Are you? Am I? But that's a conversation for another day. Join us next time for In the Bulpin on the Fight Laugh Feast Network. Thank you for listening. You're out!