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View Full Version : Oakland Athletics prospect Grant Desme retires to enter priesthood



robmadden1
01-22-2010, 02:16 PM
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland Athletics prospect Grant Desme is retiring from baseball to enter the priesthood.

Desme was recently selected the 2009 Arizona Fall League MVP and was considered one of the top prospects in Oakland's system.

"We respect Grant's decision and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors," A's general manager Billy Beane said in a statement.

The 23-year-old outfielder batted .288 with 31 homers, 89 RBIs and 40 stolen bases in 131 games at Class-A Kane County and Stockton last season.

He then hit .315 with a league-leading 11 home runs and 27 RBIs in 27 games in the fall league.

Desme was a second-round pick selection in the 2007 draft after being named Big West Player of the Year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4849432&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines

mattfeet
01-22-2010, 03:09 PM
Good for him for sticking with what he feels called to do. That's rare to see in this day and age.

-Matt

Redsfan320
01-22-2010, 03:11 PM
Good for him for sticking with what he feels called to do. That's rare to see in this day and age.

:thumbup: What he said.

320

Kingspoint
01-22-2010, 05:35 PM
I was visiting a seminary on Wednesday afternoon (two days ago).

It's a beautiful place, the one I was at, and it definitely made me wish for a moment that I was doing something as peaceful and self-reflecting as that.

Good for him.

The worst decisions in life are the ones we don't make.

gedred69
01-24-2010, 04:18 PM
Anybody remember McKay Christianson? He was just a half-step away from the Bigs with the Reds when Jesus called..... He may well have been LF today if he'd stuck with it.

XU Lou
01-24-2010, 07:31 PM
Great story. I am sure he will never look back.

I think a really good international soccer player did the same thing about a year ago. I don't recall from what country though.

Didn't hear about these stories 20 years ago. I wonder what changed.

gilpdawg
01-24-2010, 10:38 PM
The Niners also had a TE in the 80s who retired to become a doctor.

bounty37h
01-25-2010, 10:10 AM
"damn fool plowed under his farm"

mlh1981
01-25-2010, 07:48 PM
Wow, the courage and conviction to follow through with this is amazing.

Kingspoint
01-26-2010, 06:15 AM
Looking at this schedule, he still has time for baseball in the summer:

Daily Life

Throughout the seminary year, which extends from late August through early May, the weekday schedule generally runs as follows:

Morning
6:45 Breakfast (optional)
7:30 Morning prayer, meditation
8:00 Mass
9:00–12:00 Classes
12:00 Lunch

Afternoon-Evening
1:00–4:00 Classes
4:00 Free time
5:30 Evening prayer
5:45 Dinner

As the schedule indicates, the day is well structured. Morning prayer, Mass and Evening Prayer are community events and are obligatory for all seminarians. Seminarians generally carry an academic load of 15-18 credits, so there is much free time from 9 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. These hours are typically used for study, exercise, and personal needs, as well as pastoral ministry, spiritual direction, and formation meetings and seminars. There are often organized sports at 4 p.m. Evening activities are varied, ranging from conferences on Monday to movies on Friday, with most evenings free.

Saturdays are generally free days. Sundays also consist of much free time, although the seminarians join the monastic community for Mass at 9:00 a.m. and for vespers at 5:15 p.m.

Kingspoint
01-26-2010, 06:17 AM
That view goes for 40 to a hundred miles in every direction There's a road you can't see that borders the West Side of the Abbey (it would be on the lower side of the picture as this view is looking due East) was named after my Great-Grandparents, whose farm was at the base of the Abbey for many years. It's an old German Community.

http://www.mountangelabbey.org/photo-tour/images/abbey-arial-51.jpg

This one I haven't been to, but it's another Abbey built by those from the Abbey in the above picture in a location about 300 miles away:

http://www.sfu.ca/retirees/2004/abbeypic_border.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/panthers7/Abbey_6878Sm.jpg


He's not exactly going to Greenland.


----------------

Kingspoint
01-26-2010, 06:38 AM
For those interested, that little Abbey on the top has the greatest collection of Civil War books and papers West of the Mississippi River. You'll never know where you'll find diamonds of information. Many, many, many are in private collections. Rare is the person who gets to have access to them because it was put together by a priest over many decades from his own personal interest on the subject. But, requests have been granted many times for scholarly research. I don't know what will happen to the collection after he passes away, if he hasn't already. I imagine he'd donate it to some institution for availability.