The ever-increasing influx of players from different cultural and religious backgrounds has made baseball an interesting setting to analyze religion’s impact on sport.

Whether a player is born in Minnesota, Puerto Rico or Japan, the relationship between their performance and religious beliefs is intriguing.

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz celebrates after a Home Run

Specifically in baseball, many players can be seen making religious gestures before every at bat or while standing on second base after a double. The same can be said for pitchers who hold a necklace or give a kiss to a religious charm before toeing the rubber.

These actions have become commonplace, but how many players do this to feel at ease as opposed to actually believing God will return their actions with a base hit or strikeout?

Fans may get on their knees in front of the TV and pray for a game walk-off, but is this out of an attempt to feel they have some kind of impact on the game or do many believe the almighty will actually answer their prayers with a home run?

A story of a skirmish in a minor league clubhouse – and an article recommended by Peter King – encouraged me to think about these questions (more on these later).

Everyone has his or her own religious beliefs that should be respected.

While I am making no attempt to degrade or offend anyone, religion is similar to politics in a sense that someone will get angry no matter the context.

So, what is God’s place in the American Pastime?

I have found myself pleading with the baseball Gods for a final strikeout or a big hit countless times.

“Please, just this once give me a win! I’ll do anything!”

These thoughts might be in my head or spoken out loud, but every sports fan knows the feeling: you have so much invested in something that you have absolutely no control over.

The least you can do is ask God to help.

The same theory is in place for superstitions which baseball has a couple of if you had not noticed. Did Turk Wendell actually become a better pitcher because he brushed his teeth after each inning? Was Moises Alou better prepared to hit because he took a whiz on his hands before the game? Will the Athletics win a close one just because a fan was wearing his lucky Dennis Eckersley jersey, or stayed in the same position on the couch since that second inning triple play?

It is easy to look at superstitions and brush them off as eccentric, deeming them to have no actual significance in the outcome of a relief appearance or an at bat.

However, the same response is never heard when a player crosses himself or says a prayer.

In all likelihood the reason is that religion is such a touchy subject everywhere – especially in the melting pot that is the MLB – that few dare to go there.

To put things in perspective, as much as I love baseball and sports, there are many issues on this planet that are more important.

Namely, starving children in the Sudan should be above Andre Ethier’s hitting streak on God’s “To Do” list. Not to take anything away from sport because sport has a much greater cultural impact then most are willing to admit (alas that is a blog post for a different time).

Anyway, I find it equally ridiculous to believe that not stepping on the foul line will make a pitcher better just as a batter praying for a base hit and believing God delivered on his request when he squirts one through the middle. Are you sure it just was not a little luck that allowed the batter to get a broken bat bloop single against that great two seam fastball?

Luck is what it all comes down to. Baseball is a sport where luck plays an ever-present role in every pitch of every inning of every game.

There are even statistics being created such as BABIP (Batting Average of Balls In Play) to try and find the truth of the stats while extracting the luck part.

This leads to the incident in the minor league clubhouse I spoke of earlier. Essentially, two front office members were arguing about a certain player and his recent statistics. One was arguing that luck had a great impact on recent outcomes and the player should be watched closely moving forward. The other disagreed and argued there is no such thing as luck in baseball. Everything, including a ball falling for a single or a player making the majors was pre determined by God and completely out of the hands of the baseball people.

This left me with my jaw unhinged.

I understand there are people who maintain that their life path is determined ahead of time by an almighty being. Whether I or anyone else believes this is irrelevant, it is an understandable and often accepted dogma.

Taking it to such extremes in my opinion is absurd. I just can’t grasp believing God decides every pitch of every game everywhere! In other words, do you really think God gives two craps about a 1-1 count in a 0-0 game in the second inning of a minor league exhibition game?

Luckily for me, I am an avid fan of Peter King and his Monday Morning Quarterback column for Sports Illustrated. For those baseball only junkies out there, King will bring football to you in a light never seen before, he’s masterful.

Anyway, King forwarded an article by David White who has been in journalism for 17 years and covered the Raiders and 49ers most recently.

White has decided to move in a different life direction and will go into full time ministry as a senior pastor. White gives some poignant examples leading to a conclusion that God probably has priorities over sports. (This is my personal favorite: “Thou shalt absolutely not say your team won because it was God’s plan. What does the Lord have against the other team? And why should God even care in a world of suffering how our games play out? Maybe you think He doubled down on your end of the Vegas line? He didn’t.”)

This also makes a great point that is often overlooked: Why should God reward one player or team and punish the other?

If crossing yourself or praying actually does result in hits and strikeouts then instead of playing baseball, everyone on the field would be attempting to out pray each other.

Kofax, known for his greatness on the mound is also recognized for his well-renowned religious stand for the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur during a World Series

The call from Vin Scully: “Koufax takes the mound and Mays steps into the box. Sandy in his long windup comes and starts him off with a kissing of his Jewish Star necklace. Strike one! Mays digs in and gathers some dirt to give him a better grip and crosses his chest, a strong move from the Say Hey Kid. Wow, what a battle folks, you are watching a classic here at Chavez Ravine.”

You get the point.

I, along with every other sports fan or professional athlete, do not have the answers.

I cannot say what God controls and what he/she/it leaves to nature to decide.

For those who do not believe in a higher power, I cannot confirm there is a God. No one can answer these questions definitively because they are bigger than any person or for that matter anything. I do know that a minor league front office employee saying every pitch and the fate of every player is predetermined is not good for baseball.

Players see the guys working harder than anyone else improve.

Roy Halladay did not wake up one morning and realize he could throw six pitches with incredible movement wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He labored tirelessly to improve. He studied the game, learned from players and coaches and refused to let anyone be better.

There are baseball players that have as much talent as Halladay, but do not work as hard or were simply never able to put it together. There are players that work as hard as Doc, but simply do not have the talent to advance.

If a player puts all of his body and mind into baseball, he can sleep at night knowing everything possible has been done to succeed.

The rest is just luck.