Patron Saint of Baseball
Recently I was asked “is there a Patron saint of Baseball?” Hmmm. Interesting question. I found the reference to
Saint Rita of Cascia (1381 – May 22, 1457) 
Italian Augustinian saint.
From www.answers.yahoo.com I found this:
“If there has been a run on St. Rita medals and holy cards at Catholic shops over the past few weeks, blame it on a family film released in April entitled “The Rookie.” Based on a true story, and starring Dennis Quaid, it’s a baseball tale that opens with a couple of nuns sprinkling rose petals from a basket while praying to St. Rita over the site of an oil well near the little town of Big Lake in west Texas in the 1920s.
According to the story’s narrator, the nuns invested money in an oil well scheme that started to turn sour. When the nuns couldn’t get their money back a Catholic priest advised them to pray to St. Rita, the patron St. of the impossible, and sprinkle rose petals on the well site. The Santa Rita well, named for its patron, not only produced oil but also (according to the film) a couple of major league baseball players. During the 21 months it took for the well to start spouting oil the Santa Rita crew built a baseball field near the well, and played baseball to while away the hours. Some of the crew got to be very good ball players.
Funny that I have seen the movie “The Rookie” and I own it but I had to watch the beginning of the movie to remind of this. Saint Rita is also the saint of impossible dreams. Dodgers could use saint Rita’s help.
Here is the medal:
Dodger Blue World 
Everytime I say my prayers I ask for two blessings from two important saints. the first being St. Christopher. My uncle once gave me a pendant with a baseball player on it that said “St. Christopher protect me.” He gave this to me right as I started playing ball at 6 years old. The other is St. Rita. I too take a page from “The Rookie” upon saying “St. Rita pray for us.” In the movie there is a reading that says she is the patron saint of dreams defying the impossible. Having that faith that anything can happen is a driving force in my life.
http://pittpeas.mlblogs.com
Matt, when I started driving, my grandmother gave me a St Christopher medal. She said it was to protect me on the road. That medal along with some jewelry were were stolen. When I saw a blue St Christopher medal at the Santa
Barbara mission, I bought it. I consider it a
tribute to my grandmother who was both a mother figure and a grandmother to me. And is blue!
Did not know that about St Christopher. Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it!
One of the adult supervisors at my church’s youth group always says that he wants to be the patron saint of baseball. I guess I should show him this post and tell him that that title is already taken!
Catherine
LOL Catherine, Yep. Already taken. I think it would be cool to get the medalion. I have a Saint Rita church close to me. I’ll ask them if they have one with the baseball player in the back.
‘The Rookie’ is one of my all-time favorite movies. I’d love to have that pennant, and maybe now i’ll check on eBay for one.
–Saint Michael
‘Minoring In Baseball’
Amen to that Saint Michael! 🙂
I need to look for that medal too. Let me know if you find a good deal on Ebay or elsewhere.
http://www.saint-rita.com
Hey! I just saw this! Thanks Mike! Will check out that site.
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