Tommy's Testimony
From the beginning...
I was really raised as a Sunday morning Christian at best when it was convenient and when I didn’t have a ballgame that conflicted. We checked it off our list and lived the rest of the week however we wanted to. Everything I did revolved around sports. I ended up being in that small percentage of little leaguers who really did make it in professional baseball. I went first and played a couple of years at the University of Oklahoma and then was drafted by the Houston Astros where I played my way up through the minor league teams for 6 years. I was a top prospect dominating my way through the minor leagues. I played in numerous minor league All-Star games. I was literally just one call away from the big league phone call. While in triple A, the short stop playing in front of me at the big league level got injured and it would have been my big break, but I, myself, broke my hand and was unable to play. The disappointment was real and the love in my heart slowly started to fade. I was released a couple of seasons later from the Astros. After that, I played for one year with the Colorado Rockies’ Organization, but by that point, I was completely over baseball. The Lord had taken the desire away. I had numerous teams still interested in signing me, but there was no way I was going back. I thought I had missed my big break, but the truth was that it was the best break the Lord could give me. It was just the beginning of Him staking His claim on my life.
Meeting my wife...
Right at the end of my career with the Astro’s, I met my wife, Timilyn. I had been called down to play
double A for a month and I was playing a series up in Frisco, TX. Timilyn had come down with a friend for her
birthday and was at the game sitting on the third base line. I played short stop normally, but that night I
was playing third base. As I look back,
there was no coincidence in the fact that I was called down for this month and
playing this position on this particular night.
The Lord knew what he was doing, and I can honestly say I knew she would
be my wife even that night. We were
fully in lust and after a short engagement, we were married the following
year. By the end of the next season,
Timilyn was pregnant with our first child, and I had news for her: I was done
with baseball.
The Darkest Shadows...
Even though I was ready to leave the sport, unfortunately, there are some demons of professional
athletics that are not so easy to shake.
No one wants to talk about them.
They’d rather continue to paint the lifestyle as a money filled,
glamorous, well deserved pass on anything moral. The world, after all, accepts almost any
behavior from their heroes on the field.
Truth is, not only is their wild behavior accepted, it’s envied. Those demons from baseball that I couldn’t
leave behind with my cleats became my secret life. Alcohol, drugs, and porn were constant parts
of my daily routine. Timilyn was now
pregnant and ready to clean up the wild life we once lived together. What she didn’t understand was that years of
living submerged in the depths of sexual sin couldn’t be quit cold turkey and
not within my own strength. While it is true that any man can and does walk
in sexual sin, I truly believe the ground a professional athlete walks upon is
some of the most fertile. Not only is the
access to pretty much any level of sexual depravity available, but it is affordable. The number of females willing to throw
themselves into the sheets of any professional athlete is embarrassing to the
human race. The prevalence is just as
devastating as almost every single one of your peers is just as much of a dirt
bag as you are. Married or
unmarried. As a young player, you are
literally brought up that infidelity is normal and highly accepted. Having secret cell phones with bills that
your manager takes care of for you so that your wife is kept in the dark is
100% A-OK. Even if you start out with
good intentions of beating the odds and being the one good husband on the team,
the temptation and ease is consuming.
It’s like walking into a fire and pretending you aren’t going to get burned. Sexual addiction is just like any other
addiction. With drugs, you start easy
and as the high loses its intensity, you move to the next level of drug. The same thing happens with sexual sin. You get immune to the depravity of one sexual
sin and you literally spiral into the next level to the next level constantly
searching for a satisfaction you once found when you started the mess. You end up in a sickening place and you have
no idea how you got there. That was me.
Eventually I found myself in chat rooms late into the night while my wife and innocent infant daughter slept. I was engaging in inappropriate conversations that led to adultery. One of these online conversations ended up being with a minor…but it was never a minor…it was a police officer. The sting went down exactly like you would imagine on T.V. It was no question the worst day AND the best day of my life.
The Lord's Hand...
What had I done? I
didn’t even know how I’d gotten myself to this place but I was broken. I was disgusted with myself and truly didn’t
know how I would live through this. I
had lost everything. I had thrown away
the only career I was qualified for, my family was shattered, and my sins had
not only been exposed but I would have to answer for them legally. I wasn’t welcome in my home anymore so I
moved back to Oklahoma with my parents.
The only place I had to turn to was their church. They had a thriving recovery program and I
dove in. The Lord had used this worst
day of my life to strip me clean and take me to the very bottom. Only now could He start chiseling the man He
intended for me to be. Day after day
after day, I slowly built a relationship with the Lord. The sins that had dug their fingernails in me
so deeply were losing their power. The
Lord whispered words of hope in my heart with the idea that He was all powerful
and could redeem and restore even my life.
That seemed like a true modern day miracle that I have to admit I had
little faith in. Timilyn wanted nothing
to do with me.
One day, the impossible miracle began to unfold as the Lord began softening Timilyn’s heart.
I was literally in awe. We both
continued to seek counsel as we walked a path few people know. As the Lord reconciled our hearts to Him, he
then reconciled our hearts to each other.
It wouldn’t have worked any other way.
After two years of divorce, the Lord reconciled our marriage proving
NOTHING is impossible with Him. I haven't been free of consequences. The judgement my story inflicts on the hearts of
those who hear it is always present. It’s terribly hard to
walk around with this scarlet letter but the truth is, I would rather walk
around with human judgement rather than God’s and had it not been this
situation, I can almost guarantee that I would be on my way to Hell.
Redemption...
It was hard to imagine any part of this story shining the love of Jesus as I was walking through it, but now as I look back I can picture my father in heaven weeping as He watched His child suffer but allowed me to walk in a scenario that would ultimately save my life like any good and loving daddy would do. He is alive and makes ALL things new. He redeemed my life and made it new. He redeemed my marriage and made it new. We hope that you are encouraged that there is nothing the Lord can’t redeem.
Hebrews 12:7-11
7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
To hear Tommy's wife, Timilyn's, side of the story, you can find it here.
Tommy's Accolades
- As a junior in high school, was invited to prestigious national showcases such as Team One Baseball Showcase, Perfect Game USA Showcase, as well as to represent the Chicago White Sox for the Area Code Baseball Games.
- 1998 TPX High School Baseball All-American.
- 1998 Oklahoma First Team All-State Selection Shortstop.
- Drafted out of high school by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 6th round.
- Pursued by numerous Division I universities including Arizona University, Arizona State University, Wichita State University, Clemson University, Alabama University, Florida University, Georgia University, Arkansas University, Mississippi University, Tulane University, Texas A&M University, Baylor University, Oklahoma State University, South Carolina University, and Stanford University, before ultimately signing with The University of Oklahoma.
- 2000, Second Team All Big 12 Conference Shortstop
- 2000, led the Sooners in batting average at .360, as well as tied for 1st in the nation with 10 triples.
- Drafted in 2000 after his sophomore year at OU by the Houston Astros in the 6th round.
- Finished 2001 with the 2nd highest batting average in the South Atlantic League at .319, as well as the 2nd highest batting average among all Astros minor leaguers.
- 2001 South Atlantic League All-Star
- 2002, rated by Baseball America as the 10th-best prospect in the Houston Astros Organization.
- 2003, rated by Baseball America as the 6th-best prospect in the Houston Astros Organization.
- 2003 Texas League All-Star
- 2004 Texas League All-Star
- 2003-2005, on the Houston Astros 40-man roster.
- 2005, 1 of 3 Astros minor leaguers invited to Washington D.C. to attend the Rookie Career Development Program put on by Major League Baseball.
- Inducted into the Lexington Legends Hall of Fame, 2007.
A Map of Tommy's Professional Career
In June of 2000, Tommy began his professional career in short season A ball. From there he was invited over to instructional ball for the fall and winter. After his first official spring training in 2001, he was assigned to play full season A ball for the Lexington Legends leading his team to the South Atlantic League Title. He was called up to the AA Round Rock Express to finish that season where the team made it to the finals of the Texas League Championship which was cut short due to 9/11. Tommy was invited back to fall and winter instructional ball and then returned to spring training in 2002. This year Tommy began a year back and forth between A and AA ball at Lexington and Round Rock. Following the season, Tommy would head to play in the Arizona Fall League where all the top prospects from each organization were invited. This winter, Tommy was selected to be added to the 40-Man roster. In 2003, he attended big league spring training. His formal season was spent in AA Round Rock. His 2004 season began at big league spring training camp again sending him back to AA Round Rock until the All-Star break in June when he was called up to AAA ball for the New Orleans Zephyrs. Tommy suffered a season ending injury while playing for the Zephyrs until the fall where he played again in the Arizona Fall League. 2005 began again at big league spring training where from there Tommy spent most of his time at the AAA Round Rock Express with a short stint with AA Corpus Christi Hooks. Tommy was released from the Astro's Organization after spring training of 2006 and was picked up by the Colorado Rockies beginning his career with them for the AAA Colorado Springs Skysox.
