Prodigal Magazine

He played for himself at the beginning of his career.  His goal was to win and sharing the infield with Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker meant that winning was something that would happen often.  He had an opportunity of a lifetime coming up with the Tigers but a few years after his debut, he began to see the game of baseball and the people surrounding him in an entirely different way.  God opened his heart and his eyes to see things that way that God sees them, not just for what they can do, but for who they are.

Travis Fryman would have a stellar career and now, finds himself still in the game of baseball but looking at the game from a different perspective, as he is in the managerial role.  I spoke with Travis on the phone to talk about baseball, life, and the Giver of all good things.

His Life

Travis grew up with a love of baseball and was raised in a Christian environment.  It would take years for him to begin to grasp what it meant to be a follower of Christ, as he told me in his testimony.

Q – Travis, when did you give your life to Christ?

“It was the offseason of 1994-1995.  I grew up in a Christian home.  I even invited Christ into my life as a child, but I really didn’t understand what it meant to surrender my life to Christ until February 25^th, 1995, at my home church.  I had just gotten to that place in my life where I began to understand what that really meant.”

His life would be changed from that point.  For years, he had experienced success on multiple levels, but his viewpoint of what matters the most in life changed.

His Career

Travis came up with the Detroit Tigers in 1990 and would play for the Tigers until 1997 and then finished his career with the Cleveland Indians.  Multiple times, Travis was selected to the All-Star game and won a Gold Glove award during his career.

Q – How did your faith influence your career?

“In dramatic ways.  Had you known me before Christ and after Christ, certainly there were some significant differences.  The greatest difference in my life before Christ and after Christ was that before Christ, I really didn’t care that much about the men that I played with.  If they played hard and worked as hard as I did and they wanted to win as much as I did, I liked them.  If they didn’t, I really didn’t want anything to do with them.  I didn’t know if they were married or had kids or anything about their personal life and again, I didn’t really care.  After I gave my life to Christ, God really gave me a great love for my teammates and I began to look for ways to love them and serve them, and for the opportunity to share the gospel.  I am not a person who believes you check your faith at the door to the locker room.  I believe that if you are a follower of Christ, that Christ is central in your life, and that relationship with Him permeates every relationship in your life and everything that you do in your life.  There is really no area in my life that my relationship is not impacted by.”

Q – What was the highlight of your career?

“Certainly, the opportunity to play for Sparky Anderson was an incredible thrill for me.  He was the perfect manager for me to come under.  Being able to play with Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, which was a big thrill for me.  Playing in Cleveland at a time when they were sold out every night and we were in the postseason three of the five years that I was there, that was very exciting.  Participating in All-Star games, those things were fun.  Certainly those are some high points in my career, but if I look back on my career, the things that mean the most to me are not anything that really happened between the chalk lines.  The things that mean the most to me in my career were the relationships that I formed with the men that I played with, the Bible studies that I participated in, how God worked through you in the lives of other people and just those opportunities that come really on a daily basis in the locker room as you’re building those relationships.  Having God working through you in their lives is an exciting thing and I don’t believe there is anything more exciting or more fulfilling in your life than being part of when God calls someone to Himself and they give their lives to Christ and you’ve been a part of that process.  I think that’s the most rewarding thing to participate in.”

Q – Who was the toughest pitcher you faced in your career?

“No question in my mind, statistically speaking, Pedro Martinez pretty much owned me.  I just had tremendous struggles against him.  I didn’t pick the ball up very well.  I don’t know what my career numbers were off him.  I think they’re somewhere in the neighborhood of two for fifty-something, which isn’t very good.  I did not have a great deal of success off of Pedro.  Aside from Pedro, no one really jumps out at me.  But I can say, with great assurance, that Pedro pretty much owned me.”

His life today and his insight

Travis has now become a manager and I wanted to see how God had shifted his viewpoint in this new career.  Travis helped me to understand purpose and to understand what our lives are to be about, something that God has taught him over the years.

Q – How do you see God using you now in the managerial role?

“In purpose, it’s no different than my purpose in any other area of life.  I really believe that there is a difference between God’s purpose for your life and God’s plans for your life.  I believe that God’s purpose for your life and for mine are exactly the same.  God’s purpose for our lives is for us to enter into a relationship with Him and to enjoy that relationship for all of eternity.  His purpose for us also is to glorify Him within the world.  His plans for Andy and His plans for Travis are unique to each of us.  Where the Scripture says in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know” God’s saying, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord “plans to prosper you, not to harm you and to give you a hope and a future.”  It says that He knows those plans and those plans are unique to you and to me.  It’s not God’s purpose that’s a mystery to me; it’s God’s plans that are a mystery to us.  I’ll never know all of God’s plans for my life but I have decided that I want to embrace God’s purpose for my life wherever I am, whether that’s at home with my family, whether that’s serving at my local church, whether that was as a Major League Baseball player or now as a minor league manager.  I’m going to pursue my relationship with God; that’s an intimate love relationship with Him and I’m going to bring glory to Him right where I’m at and I do that in a variety of ways.  (I do that) Through my relationships with men who are entrusted to my care, through my interaction with my peers, other coaches and managers, through the platform that I’m given, an opportunity to share or speak and communicate what God’s done in my life and just through conversations that I have with people.  Everybody has to decide, I believe, to embrace God’s purpose for your life and if you want to embrace God’s purposes for your life right where you are, I believe God’s plans for your life begin to be unrolled or unveiled in your life.  I don’t get too caught up worrying about what tomorrow holds.  I’ve just decided I’m going to embrace God’s purpose for my life today where I’m at.”

Q – Do you have a favorite passage?

“At this point in my life, I really do.  It’s 1 Corinthians 9:19.  It’s a great passage of Scripture.  God put that on my heart about three years ago.  It says, “For though I am free from all men, I’ve made myself a servant to all, in order that I might win the more.”  It really defines my life.  The first part says, “Though I am free from all men” and God’s given me great freedom.  Anything I’m involved in now, I’m involved with it because I choose to be there, not because I have to be and that says a lot about what the desires of my heart are.  “Though I am free from all men, I’ve made myself a servant to all” and it’s a reminder to me why I am here.  I am here to serve those who are around me, to be the aroma of Christ where I am and to put others before myself, but I do that, according to the last part of that verse, “in order that I might win the more”.  The goal of my life is to share Christ with those who are around me in the hopes that they would come to know Him.  That verse really guides my life.”

Travis Fryman lives his life in a manner that he wants others to come to know the peace and the joy that he has found in Jesus Christ.  He once loved victories in baseball but now, he is obsessed with the victory that we find in Jesus Christ.  It isn’t the love of the game that drives him today.  It is the love of the team, the team of believers that he is a part of that God is using daily.