ST. LOUIS (RNS) — As contract talks broke down between Albert Pujols and the Cardinals, St. Louis baseball fans nervously began asking themselves a host of questions.
He’s a Cardinal for life, right? He wouldn’t go to Wrigley Field, because he likes winning too much, right?
But a particular group of Cardinals fans — those who share Pujols’ evangelical faith — asked a different kind of question: What does holding out for the largest contract in the history of baseball say about his Christian testimony?
St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols celebrates as he crosses home plate with a grand slam against the Chicago Cubs. Some Christian fans wonder whether Pujols’ evangelical faith conflicts with his quest for a $200 million-plus contract. (RNS PHOTO/Chris Lee/The St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
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Pujols and his wife, Deidre, are evangelical Christians. They describe their charity, the Pujols Family Foundation, as “a faith-based nonprofit organization” and participate in Christian events around the city.
So, as Pujols began looking to many like a typical mega-wealthy superstar athlete angling for a record payday, some asked how Pujols’ public, God-fearing image squares with a private quest for wealth.
Team officials declined to describe the details of their offer to Pujols, but it’s widely believed to have been worth about $200 million.
Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey, a church in St. Louis that counts a number of professional athletes as members, said Jesus warned against greed.
“Nobody really confesses to that sin,” Patrick said. “Lust, anxiety — sure. But very few people say, ‘I’m greedy,’ and I absolutely think that (Pujols) should be on guard for that.”
A verse from 1 Timothy says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”
That’s the fear of many people who love Pujols, both as fans and as Christians. They fear, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, that no one can serve two masters. “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Sean Michael Lucas, a former professor at Covenant Seminary in Creve Coeur and current pastor of a Presbyterian church in Hattiesburg, Miss., describes himself on his Twitter page as, among other things, “Cardinals fan, lover of Jesus.”
At the end of January, Lucas tweeted, “… how is AP’s testimony affected if he holds the Cards hostage for $30m/10yrs? @ what pt does 1 Tim 6:10 apply here?”
In another tweet, Lucas wrote, “Unless there is a big part of this contract that goes to Pujols Foundation ($30-50m) he’s open 2 the question. Legitimately.”
Baptist pastor Scott Lamb, the co-author with Tim Ellsworth of a new Pujols biography called Pujols: More Than the Game that focuses on the first baseman’s faith, said the contract talks have opened up an interesting debate in Christian circles that goes beyond baseball to the uncomfortable intersection of the New Testament and capitalism.
“Consumption mentality is very American, but it’s not very biblical,” Lamb said. “People are asking whether [Pujols] should grab all he can get, and what his moral responsibilities are in terms of what to do with that money.”
What to do with a lot of money is a relatively new problem for Pujols. In 2000, when he was in the minor leagues in Peoria, Ill., and Memphis, Tenn., he was bringing in $125 a week.
By 2005, he and his wife set up their foundation to help children with Down syndrome and children living in poverty in his native Dominican Republic. In 2010, the foundation spent $800,000 on its programs, according to Todd Perry, its executive director.
“Albert and Dee Dee are extremely generous, not just to the Pujols Foundation but to other charities in the community,” Perry said. “Their foundation is their passion.”
Several pastors emphasized the more important point for Pujols is not how many millions he makes, but how he spends it.
“What you do with your money is a factor,” Patrick said. Pujols “has a track record of generosity that is without question. God does use money to help people, and I see God doing that with Pujols.”
Ultimately, Christian Cardinals fans and others who benefit from the Pujolses’ largesse are praying for a big payday for No. 5, and for his generosity to continue, even grow.
“I reject any idea that a person’s Christianity should cause them to step away from what the market would demand for them,” Lamb said. “Albert will go down in history as one of the great ones — someone who grabbed the money and gave it away at the same time.”