Grinch in the press box

Baseball: Peanuts, popcorn, and proselytizing | Marvin Olasky

RICK STEWART/GETTY IMAGES

A major league baseball season begins with hope. Maybe this year the Cubs will win it all. Or the downtrodden Pirates, Rays, or Royals. But The New York Times has begun this season with warnings of a major threat to the rites of spring: Christians.

Times sportswriter Murray Chass is crusading against voluntary Baseball Chapel services in major league locker rooms on Sunday mornings. He's equally upset with "faith nights" that typically feature a Christian music concert following a game, with players testifying to their belief in Jesus.

At least eight major league teams and at least three dozen minor league ones have such nights annually. Chass snorts, "Just what baseball needs—peanuts, popcorn and proselytizing." His solution: Since the U.S. Constitution "provides for separation of church and state," baseball executives should institute "separation of church and baseball."