jack_mckeon

Jack McKeon, former Cincinnati Reds manager, spoke about his Catholic faith and the power of prayer during a speech. He shared anecdotes about how prayer has influenced his life and the lives of others. McKeon emphasized the importance of gratitude, adoration, petition, and forgiveness in prayer. He urged the audience to talk to God, thank Him for His blessings, and be ambassadors of faith. McKeon also highlighted the significance of prayer in society and encouraged everyone to have a personal relationship with God. in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, Jack's cell phone rang as he sat fielding questions from reporters. His granddaughter was on the line, cameras rolled. He was busy, but no way was he too busy to pass up the opportunity to tell her publicly, I love you. Jack is also a strong Catholic. While he was managing, the first thing he did when arriving in a new city was to check out the closest Catholic church and its mass schedule. He attended daily mass whenever possible. He told me also that upon arriving at the ballpark, he would walk the outfield fence, praying the rosary. I'm not sure if that was to lower the fences for more home runs, but something was working well for him as a manager. Jack is a two-time National League Manager of the Year, once for the Cincinnati Reds in 1999 and once for the Florida Marlins. When he took the job as the Marlins' manager during the season, their record was below .500. He then led them to a World Series victory. With that victory, he became, at 72, the oldest manager to win the World Series. Jack currently works in the Marlins' front office as a special assistant to the owner. He is a speaker and writer with two books, one called I'm Just Getting Started, and the other titled Jack of All Trades. Jack lives with his wife in Elan, North Carolina, and is a grandfather of nine grandchildren. Gentlemen, let's give a warm return welcome to our former Cincinnati Reds Manager of the Year, Jack McKeon. Thank you, thank you. Boy, it's great to be back in Cincinnati. I love it here. And I was watching here, Father Kent over here leading the band here. I thought it was Doc Severson for a minute. But I'm excited and thrilled to be here with you, you know, on this great program here whereby you can come out here and profess your faith. And I think that's something we've got to do on a regular basis. But, you know, I had a tough time getting here today. I was coming in, the driver was driving us in, and all of a sudden the car in front of us was weaving back and forth across the road. And pretty soon it went off the embankment and overlanded on its roof. And I said to Bill, I said, we'd better stop and see if we can be of help. Well, we stopped, and I went down there, and there's the car on its roof. And I look under there, and there's the Catholic priest. And I said, Father, are you all right? He said, of course I'm all right. God's riding with me. I said, well, you better let him ride with us, or you sure as hell are going to get him killed. But, you know, we're all seeing this great crowd out here, and sometimes you realize how blessed we are. We're all blessed, really. We live in the greatest country in the world. We have our freedom to gather here and to praise the Lord and profess our faith. And as Gus had mentioned earlier on those terms, let's not forget to remember our brave men and women in the military. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. They're sacrificing their lives in order to protect that freedom. You know, I grew up, I was very fortunate to grow up in a Catholic environment. My Catholic foundation was built early by my, thanks to my parents, who encouraged us to go to church on a daily basis, receive the sacraments, and really set example for others. And basically that's what we did. And, you know, I'm so thankful. And I see so many youngsters out there in the audience, and you parents that have brought these youngsters here, it's a tribute to you. And you youngsters realize how much your parents love you and how they're trying to build some character and build that religious foundation. Do me a favor, when you get home tonight, give your mom and dad a big hug and a kiss and tell them you love them. You know, God has plans for all of us. He loves each and every one of us in this auditorium today. He's a loving and forgiving God, and He wants us all to be His ambassadors here on earth. He wants us to go out and spread the good news, profess our faith, and set examples. And you don't know what time, what day that you do something good that someone's going to reap those benefits. You know, I'll give you a couple examples. When I was a player in the Canadian America League back in 1950, and I had a pitcher on this team named John Coakley. And he was a Protestant fellow. And this day, he says to me, he said, it's a Saturday night, he said, hey, I'll meet you for breakfast at 8 o'clock. I said, I can't make it, John, I got to go to church. He said, John, I'd love to go to church. I said, well, come on, go with me. He said, yeah, I'd like to go with you, but he said, you know, I don't know all those signals you guys give. I said, don't worry, come on, just come with me, I'll teach you the signals. You just do whatever I do. Well, I got him to go to church a number of times, and then the season ended. I went back to New Jersey where I lived, and he stayed in Gloversville, New York. And I never heard any more from him until I became a manager in the Big Leagues. It looks like they all come out of the woods when you go to the Big Leagues. But anyway, he calls me and tells me that he's thanking me for introducing him to the Catholic Church, because he ended up marrying a Catholic gal and got converted. And every time I see him, up until last year when I saw him and talked to him on the phone, he always wants to thank me for introducing him to the Catholic faith. And then there was a case where I had Harry Dunlop coach, and was a coach for the Reds a few years back. He was with me in Kansas City, and we were training in Fort Myers, Florida. He said to me one day, he said, my wife wants to use the car today, can I ride in to the ballpark with you? I said, well, you've got to realize, I said, no, I get up and I go to 630 Mass before I go to the ballpark. Oh, he said, that's okay. Well, I took him to Mass today, and then tomorrow he went with me, and the next day, you know, finally about a year and a half later, he got converted to Catholicism. So what you're saying is, what I'm saying is, hey, you never know when, sometime, somewhere, a little act of kindness is going to pay dividends for you. And then there's my owner, Jeffrey Lauria of the Florida Marlins. And in my office at Florida, I have a picture of St. Therese. And he knew about my relationship with St. Therese and how much I thought of her. Anyway, we lose three or four games in a row, and he'd walk in my office and he'd say, hey, you better pray to your lady. Get your lady to help you. But I've been in baseball now 61 years, and every day I thank the Lord for all the gifts that He's given me. And I say to you people out there, you know, don't be afraid to talk to God. You know, you can talk to Him. You don't have to say to Him, I'll follow the Hail Mary. Just talk in a regular conversation, whether you're walking, jogging, taking a shower, or what have you. But talk to Him. Tell Him you need help. You want to be a better person. Show you the way. Give you the direction. But most importantly, thank Him. Thank the good Lord for the many gifts that He's given us. And just remember that every breath we take today is a gift from God. You know, prayer has always been part of my life. And I think prayer is one of the most powerful weapons that we have. And I was taught years ago that there's four purposes of prayer—thanksgiving, adoration, petition, and satisfaction for sins. And thanksgiving is probably the most neglected one of the purposes. And it's ironic that here we are in the greatest country in the world that we have one day set aside for thanksgiving. And that day is mostly devoted to food, football games, and parades. But never the time to thank our good Lord and Savior for all His many benefits. It's easy to thank people for birthday gifts, holiday gifts that we'll never use. But what can we give our good Lord for His many blessings? We can give Him the gift of time where we spend praying, going to receive the sacraments. We can give Him the gift of love. Or we can take Him into our hearts. And that's what we've got to do. But remember, the biggest thing is thank the good Lord for the many gifts. You know, to really love and adore our God, it's important to talk to Him through prayer, learn about Him through the Bible, and receive Him in our hearts through communion. Society loves celebrities. They want photo ops, autographs, and they just love to be around celebrities. So I wonder sometimes if they would show that same enthusiasm for our most precious celebrity, our Lord and Savior. Petition is another one of the purposes. Petition, most people focus on petition. They're always asking for something. You know, Lord, help me pass this test. Lord, help me make the team. Lord, help me find a way to buy this new car. And then there's the other ones that sometimes are desperate, and they try to make a deal with the good Lord. Lord, if you grant this request, I'll be a better person, I'll go to church more often, and I'll do all that you ever want. Well, no government has broken more promises with its people than us human beings have made with pledges to God. People resort to this form of petition in prayer life for simple reasons. They're in need. The prayer requests are very effective. And the Lord, the good Lord, has asked us, hey, call on me to do some favors. I want to help you guys. And many of us, we've asked the Lord for gifts and requests, favors, and we have been rewarded, but yet we fail, whether it's because we're reluctant or because we're embarrassed, to give God his due, give him credit, profess our faith, tell the people that the power of prayer is working for us. So give God his due and profess our faith. Forgiveness for sins is another one. Admitting that we are sorry and admitting that we are sinners are two of the most important aspects of prayer. We accept God's forgiveness. That's easy. But another thing is to forgive others. As in the Lord's most famous prayer to our Father, he says, he will forgive me as I will forgive others. So let's remember that. Don't be afraid. Pray. Ask the Lord for your help. Forgive others. Be sorry for your sins. You know, we all have dreams, all of us. Everybody out in this audience has got dreams. I've had dreams. You've had dreams. I worked for Ray Kroc when I was with San Diego Padres, the owner and founder of McDonald's, and he always preached two things. Persistence is the key to success, and dreams do come true. But we all must remember, the road to success is always under construction. We encounter potholes, detours, delays, and what have you. But if you always keep your eye on your dream and use the power of prayer and have faith in the Lord, you'll be successful. People say to me, well, you know, how come, how come you've been successful a little bit? I say, well, you know, I attribute two things to my success. Persistence, the following my dream, and the power of prayer. And I'd like to share a couple with you. When I was a young player, high school boy, way back, I was a pretty good high school player, and I had a dream. I had a dream I wanted to play in the major leagues. I wanted to get to the World Series. And hopefully, if I ever got to the World Series, it would be playing the Yankees, because, you know, the Yankees are synonymous with being in the World Series. Well, in those days, we didn't have the amateur draft like they do today. So the scouts would come around, watch you play, and come to your house and try to sign you if you were good enough. I was pretty good, and I had two clubs, the Red Sox and the Pirates, that constantly came to the house and tried to get my father to allow me to sign a professional contract. My father had had a seventh-grade education, and he wouldn't allow me to sign, because he said, I want you, me and my brother, I want you guys to have a college education so that you don't have to work as hard as I did. So he wouldn't let me sign. Well, I had a scholarship to Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., on a baseball scholarship. So off I went to college. And every night at Holy Cross that I went to the dining room, I would have to pass the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And on my way back, I would spend about twenty minutes praying and asking the Blessed Virgin if there's any way that she could help me and intercede with the good Lord and ask Him to somehow convince my father to let me sign. Well, I'll tell you what happened, which is why you'll realize why I have so much faith in prayer. I go home for the Christmas vacation. The scouts come back to the house. My father calls me in another room. He said, let's talk here. He said, you really want to play, don't you? I said, yeah. I said, I don't want to go to college. He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll make a deal with you. If you promise me you'll get a college education, I'll let you sign. Well, you know, that was a piece of cake. So here I go. Here I get a chance to start my career. And I wasn't a very good player. I mean, I played, but I was one of them kind of guys, you know, good feel, no hit. In fact, I used to have cards made up, have glove, we'll travel. In fact, one year in the Carolina League, I hit three ways, right, left and seldom. So I got, you know, I got to play a few years and I realized that I wasn't going to make it to the major leagues as a player. So I kept my dream, but I decided to change my direction. And I said, well, I'll make it as a manager. So I, you know, I hung around the managers and picked their brain and found out everything I could and studied this game a little bit better than I did. And finally, you know, I was going to get a chance. Well, the tip of the iceberg as far as starting my manager career was I was in spring training in 1973 with New Orleans in the Southern League and Danny Mertall was the manager. And we were playing the Cardinals this day, an exhibition game. And we were ahead eight to one in the seventh inning and we had the bases loaded and we had a rally going where we scored a couple of runs and still had the bases loaded. When Danny looked down at the bench and he said, hey, Max, you know, I was a young kid, so I run up there. Yes, sir, Danny. He said, grab a bat and stop this rally. So that really made me realize I better start managing. But anyway, I got my chance to manage in 1955 and I kind of worked my way up to, you know, the Major Leagues, which was my dream and finally got a chance to manage my first Major League team in 73 with Kansas City. And, of course, when you're in this business, you know, as a manager, you're hired and you're going to be fired. So, you know, I've been hired and fired at Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego and Cincinnati. But, as Ray Kroc said, I remained persistent. There was no way I was going to let my dream die. And then when I got fired in Cincinnati after the 2000 season, after we had three successful years here, in which I know you haven't won since I left. But, as I said, I go to church pretty much on an everyday basis, a daily basis. And it was ironic that St. Therese is one of my favorite saints, but really how I got to know her, I was at church down here, I think it's St. Louis down here. I used to go down there every morning and either that or St. Peter changed. And somebody in the audience or in the church at mass this morning came up and gave me a novena to St. Therese. And I started using that. And that was back in about, you know, 98. But now here it's 2000. I'm fired and I'm still going to church back home. And I'm praying to St. Therese because I know she's the prodigy of miracles in the Catholic Church. And also, I know that countless lives have been touched by her intervention with the good Lord. And at 72 years old, I needed a miracle. In fact, I was so old, I can remember Preparation A. But I would pray to St. Therese and I'd ask her, you know, look, I don't know what the good Lord's plans are for me, but how about checking with Him. You know, I really don't think my career has been fulfilled. And I'd love one more chance. Well, May 11, 2003, my prayers are answered again. I get a phone call to take over Florida Marlins. In 2003, what can I say? What a year. I take over. Penn Games under .500. We end up winning the wild card, beating the Giants, beating the Cubs, and then ending up beating the Yankees in the World Series. And as a writer said to me at the post-game conference in New York, after we won the World Series, he said, who was your most valuable player? I said, that's easy, St. Therese. But, you know, winning brings rewards. And I've been fortunate, as Gus said, to be the oldest manager in the history of the game to ever win a World Series, to manage year-to-year awards in three years, in 1999 and 2003, because I didn't manage those other years. Got some TV appearances with the Lennerman and Leno shows. Got a chance to visit the White House. And talking about the White House, I had, my daughter had opened a family fun center in North Carolina, Burlington, North Carolina, just about the time, about a week or so after we won the World Series. So she said, Dad, would you come up at the grand opening and sign autographs? I said, sure. So I went up on this particular day, and I'm signing autographs for all these people who are coming to this family fun center. And my daughter is wandering around looking at all the flowers that her friends have sent her. And she comes up to me and says, Dad, look at this. Can you imagine this? One of the cards said on the flowers, Rest in Peace. So she said, I'm calling the flowers. I said, ah, Christie, they probably just made a mistake. So she called the flowers. And then the flowers told her, you know, we're sorry. We know you made a, we made a mistake. But just think, someone is going to be at a funeral today and is going to be looking at those cards on some of the flowers that have been sent. And one of the cards is going to say, Congratulations on your new location. But, you know, I think winning the World Series was God's plan. I think God was with me, directed me, guided me through that entire season. And I think, really, it was His plan to help me win that World Series so that I could come out in the community, around the country, preach His Word, reach souls, set examples, and spread His good Word, and tell the people how strong and how powerful prayer is. And I think that, you know, this is what the blessed St. Therese, when he checked with the Lord and said, Hey, we have plans for this guy. We're going to take care of him and make sure that he is well taken care of. We're going to allow him to win that World Series. And believe me, the Lord was with me. You know, I was talking earlier today, talking about prayer and stuff like that. And Tommy Lasorda is one of the good friends of mine. I was telling these gentlemen over here about the story when I was managing the Reds and Tommy was managing the Dodgers. And we were over at St. Peter's Church on a Sunday morning. And I saw Tommy, and I kind of waited outside the door to take him, give him a ride back to the ballpark. And I kind of waited. I didn't see him. All of a sudden, I looked in the church, and there he is walking up lighting a candle. Well, we went to the ballpark and presented the lineup cards at home plate. And I said, Tommy, it's not going to work. He said, what? I said, I saw you go up there and light that candle. He said, Oh, you did? I said, Yeah, but you didn't see me. I went up behind you and blew it out. You know, when I talked about the rewards, right after we won the World Series, I had a chance to go to the police chief of Atlanta called me and he said, Hey, would you come down and speak at the Police Boys Club and Girls Club I said, Sure. So I went down to Atlanta and spoke, and they presented me a nice plaque. And anyway, on my way back to the hotel, I happened to ease through a four-way stop, and there happened to be a patrolman over here. He pulled me over and, you know, asked some questions of what I was doing and so forth. And it looked like I told him I just came from speaking at the Police Boys Club, and it didn't seem I was making any headway here. So I reached over and grabbed this plaque, and I said, Look, officer, look at this beautiful plaque that the chief of police presented me. Well, I tell you, when he told me what to do with that plaque, I was glad I didn't get a trophy. But you know, as we talk about setting examples and professing our faith, my time in Florida was special. You know, they knew I went to church on a regular basis. They did articles in the newspaper, and the television people would follow me to church and everything else, and it was great. And there's a favorite church I go to down there, St. Matthew's down in Hollywood. And every time I go back now, and I go back about four or five times a year, I always try to go to church. It's Sunday there because I know the people well. But, you know, the thing that really excites me and really makes me feel so proud is when I go down there and people stop me and thank me. Thank me. You've got me going to church every day. Thank you. You've got me coming back to the church. And then there was Pat Perales, former manager in the big leagues. He was a coach at Tampa Bay. We were in Tampa Bay, and he's one of our peers. And he comes over to me and he said, I want to thank you. I said, for what? He said, for not being afraid to go out and profess your faith. He said, you just do a tremendous job doing that. But, so you can see, you know, really how persistence and the power of prayer was kind of special to me. And I hope that you fellas and people here in this audience today realize how powerful prayer is. And be persistent in staying with the power of prayer. As Ray Kroc said, persistence is the key to success. In my book, he's true, and also prayer to me is the success. You know, when Ray Kroc used to preach persistence is the key to success and dreams do come true, persistence is the key to success and dreams do come true. Well, when Beckett tagged Posada for the final out in the 2003 World Series, you know, I just couldn't believe it. And we all ran out on the field. We won the World Series. We're world champions. And the only thing I could do was look up to the heavens and say, thank you, Lord. And to you, Ray Kroc, you're right. Dreams do come true. And to each and every one of you out here today, I hope that someday, through the power of prayer, your dreams will come true. Thank you. God bless America.