You Reap What You Sow - Part 2 — Mike Zatopek
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Part 2
As my senior year ended, baseball suddenly opened doors I never expected. Colleges were calling, and two major league clubs invited me to their tryout camps. I didn’t know much about college baseball, but one night after a summer league game, a man named Crockett DuBose approached me and asked if I had committed anywhere. When I told him no, he said I’d soon hear from Coach Bragg Stockton at San Jacinto College, whose baseball program was moving to a new campus just two miles from my home.
Meeting Coach Stockton changed far more than my baseball career. My tryout was simple—catch, hit, run, field. After timing me in the 60, he told me I’d be moving to the outfield because of my speed. My freshman year I platooned with older players but still hit around .350. Going into my sophomore year, he told me he was counting on me.
But my personal life was collapsing. My father’s violence forced me out of the house, and I moved into an apartment with a friend. Depression, anger, and confusion took over. I began drinking heavily, following the same destructive path I had watched in my father. My summer baseball suffered, and by fall my performance was awful. I think I had one hit in two months.
On November 4, 1978, Coach Stockton called me into his office and said, “Mike, I heard you were a good football player. I think you need to go play football somewhere, because from what I see this fall, you’re wasting your time with baseball.” Sports had always been the one place I felt worth something. Now even that was gone.
In desperation, I went to see our parish priest, Wayne Elkins. For months, Coach Stockton had been sharing Scripture with our team—truths like “you reap what you sow” and “God loves you with an everlasting love.” Those seeds were planted, and God used them to push me toward Wayne’s door. When he opened it, he saw a broken young man who believed he was headed for hell.
Wayne patiently walked me through the gospel—God’s love, my sin, Christ’s sacrifice, and the promise of eternal life through faith alone. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes. I slid off the sofa onto my knees and prayed to receive Christ. My life changed that night.
That weekend I stayed home, read my new Bible, and felt peace for the first time in years. Monday morning, I asked Coach Stockton for a second chance. When I told him I had given my life to Christ, he smiled and welcomed me back.
That fall I played the best baseball of my life, grew in my faith, and eventually earned a scholarship to the University of Texas.
The greatest change, though, was inside me—so real that even my mother asked what had happened.
Jesus had made me new.
