LDS Pitcher Makes World Series Start

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Kansas City Royals manager, Ned Yost, scheduled Jeremy Guthrie as the starting pitcher for the third game of the World Series, set to be played Friday, October 24, 2014 in AT&T Park in San Francisco. This will be Guthrie’s first time pitching in the World Series.

Guthrie is an outspoken member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His church membership has impacted his baseball career in many ways. When he was first drafted, Guthrie turned down a $1 million contract in order to serve a church mission. Today Guthrie serves as the unofficial translator for the Spanish speaking members of his team, a skill he learned while serving as a missionary.

Guthrie has also made news for his relationship with comedian Jay Mohr. Mohr insulted Guthrie on a radio show, and Guthrie reached out to Mohr, and told a self-deprecating joke. This endeared Mohr to Guthrie, who invited him on his podcast where Mohr tried desperately to convince Guthrie to cuss for the first time. Guthrie declined.

Guthrie pitched for Brigham Young and Stanford Universities, and over a ten year Major league baseball career has pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, and Kansas City Royals. So far this post-season Guthrie has pitched once, allowing one run over five innings to the Baltimore Orioles.

The World Series is currently tied 1-1. If the series goes to seven games, Guthrie is also scheduled to pitch game 7. You can view game 3 at 8 pm Eastern on Fox.

If Guthrie pitches a great game on the biggest stage, do you think he can crack LDS.net’s list of the 15 Best Mormon baseball players? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Update: Guthrie pitched 5 innings, without allowing a run. In the sixth inning he gave up hits to the first two batters, when he was pulled from the game for a relief pitchers. While both batters came around to score, it was still a good enough performance to earn Guthrie and the Royals a win.

Christopher D. Cunningham is the managing editor for Public Square Magazine and contributor to Third Hour. He loves emphatically celebrating the normal healthy development of his sons Albus and Whitman, writing about the Church of Jesus Christ, finding the middle ground on most controversies, and using Western Family generic brand lip balm. Christopher is a proud graduate of Brigham Young University-Idaho, and a resident of San Antonio, Texas.