SUNDAY, SUNDAY

Charles Maxwell played for the Detroit Tigers between 1955 and 1962. His nickname was “Paw Paw” because he was from Paw Paw, Michigan. He was famous for hitting homeruns, usually on a Sunday. In 1959, Charlie Maxwell was benched for Larry Doby. It didn’t go well, and the Tigers started 2-15. Tiger Manager Bill Norman was fired and replaced by Jimmy Dykes. The first decision Dykes made was to bench Dolby and put Paw Paw back in left field. He was rewarded with four consecutive homeruns and a sweep of the hated New York Yankees during a double header.

Maxwell went on to hit 13 homeruns that May, and 12 of them were on Sunday. When he retired from baseball, he went back to Paw Paw and became an executive in a plant that produced automobile parts.

How Detroit Tigers’ Charlie Maxwell became ‘Sunday Charlie’ (freep.com)

No one, including Charlie Maxwell, knows why he hit so many homeruns on a Sunday. He hit 27% of his home runs on Sunday, so this was a more than a myth.  If someone plays seven days a week, then one would expect about 15% of his homeruns to happen on Sunday.

Charlie Maxwell is still around, and the Paw Paw Brewing Company recently produced “ Mr. Sunday” an amber ale that includes Maxwell graphics on the label. He now belongs to the ROMEO club in Paw Paw. That is a group of friends who get together for breakfast regularly. ROMEO stands for “Retired Old Me Easting Out.” Paw Paw is still entertaining.

For the past year months, Sunday has been the day when you didn’t go to church.  One of the first places shut down due to COVID was churches. Then, when they were allowed to open with ridiculously small numbers, they were restricted from chanting or singing. The Supreme Court recently ruled, again, that these restrictions were unconstitutional. I often wondered if the motivation for these restrictions were more about silencing Christians than they were about protecting anyone from COVID. Many of the things proposed by the modern day Democratic Socialist Party are very unpopular with churches.

We can soon expect churches to start opening up again. One wonders how attendance will compare with pre-COVID days. Perhaps absence will make the heart grow fonder. Perhaps not.  While many people got used to not attending church, they also got used to not attending baseball games either. This will be interesting to observe.

Some are wondering if things will ever return to normal. Some changes, such as working from home, are likely to continue. If Governor Newsom has his way, normal will mean a more equitable society. What he means by that is a complete inequitable society. One where the color of one’s skin and gender identification is more important that character, accomplishments, or talent.

I suspect church attendance will be surprisingly high. Unfortunately, a lot of the growth in recent years has been with mega churches that are increasingly good at putting on a show, less spectacular at holding themselves accountable. But people will also go to church because when things are going south, a little prayer goes a long way.

I made me realize something else. I was wondering why Democrats are so anti-Christian and anti-church. Then I realized something. Democrats really have no clue how to govern responsibly. The longer they are in power, the more people realize why they should never be given power. Democrats are terrified that people will see the truth. Perhaps Democrats are afraid of church, because once people see the truth, Democrats don’t have a prayer.

TDM