Remembering friend Bob Bolin, whose birthday was January 29. Bob passed away in June of 2023. After a funeral service at our church, a graveside service was held in his home county, where his earthly body was laid to rest. He was a good man and is missed by his family and his friends. I’m glad that we have the assurance of seeing him again one day in heaven, and I’m thankful that, when we gathered for his funeral, it was not a final goodbye.

Bob and his wife, Irene, came to our church in 2005, along with several other wonderful couples from the same church, after their Pastor there left to become an evangelist. Bob and Irene became good friends and have been such kind people, always the same, always such a kind couple.

In 2006, Bob and Irene welcomed me into their home, where I interviewed their longtime friend Dr. Sam Cathey for an in-depth article, on his life and ministry, for my Christian publication. Dr. Cathey and his wife, Lu, were staying with Bob and Irene while he was preaching here locally. Bob had first met Sam Cathey six decades ago, when Dr. Cathey pastored a church in Michigan, where Bob’s brother served as a deacon. “He preached my Dad’s funeral,” Bob told me. “We’ve done a lot of stuff together. He’s one of my greatest friends and a great spiritual influence. I’ve seen the guy ‘walk the walk’ all of the time.”  (Through the years, until his passing in 2016, Dr. Cathey was also always such an encouragement to me, and regarding my Christian publication, and he is missed. In 2022, when I reprinted Dr. Cathey’s story in a special issue, along with articles on other preachers whom I had interviewed who all had since passed away, Bob and Irene asked me for several copies, to give to Dr. Cathey’s wife and also to others, and I took them more copies while visiting with them in their home.)

In 2007, Bob and Irene welcomed me in their home while I interviewed Bob for an in-depth article on his life, including his childhood, his 13-year career playing baseball in the Major Leagues (with the San Francisco Giants from 1961 to 1969, the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970, and the Boston Red Sox from 1970-1973) after four seasons in the Minor Leagues, and my main focus of the story, and the main focus of his life, was sharing his Christian faith. I titled the story “Bob Bolin: Pitching the Gospel.”

I visited with this wonderful couple in their home at other times in addition to talking with them on the phone and seeing them at church, sometimes sitting with them at church. I also remember attending, with them, a local church where Sam Cathey was speaking for a few days at a conference.

At the time I interviewed Bob, I asked him what his favorite verse of scripture was, and he told me Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” He spoke publicly, sharing about his baseball career and about his Christian faith. He said that, when he would speak to a group, he would close with that verse. I think that is a wise verse that everyone would do well to live by.

I knew him as Bob, and he signed as Bob. Irene called him Bobby, as did all who had known him since childhood. Irene and Bob met in high school, and they married in 1958.

Other friends of theirs, including our mutual friend Alvin Dark, called him B.B. Bob had played baseball for Alvin, who was his manager for four years, beginning in 1961. They remained friends for the rest of their lives.

Here is what Bob told me about Alvin, when I interviewed Bob, and I used this in Bob’s story: “Alvin was my manager the first four years. He had an unbelievable influence on my life. I knew him because I had read a lot of articles about his Christian belief. I was young, and I considered him a good, solid ‘rock’. I wanted to be acceptable to him in every way, in pitching and in the way I lived my life.”

The following is what Alvin told me about Bob, which I also used in Bob’s story: “When I first started managing in the Big Leagues in 1961, Bob Bolin was a rookie who came to spring training with the Giants. The first day the pitching coach and I saw him pitch in an exhibition game in spring training, the pitching coach said, ‘This fellow can really throw a ball.’ The more we saw him in the spring, the more I realized this guy was going to be a good pitcher. He pitched for me four years in San Francisco and was starting to hit his peak when I was no longer with the ball club. He could start, he could long relief, and he could short relief. He had a great career. Bob Bolin was not only a great pitcher, but he was a tremendous guy to have on your ball club. He is a man of faith. He really believes in Jesus as his personal Saviour.”

Dr. Cathey spoke well of both Bob and Alvin, when I asked him if he would wish to share about them, at the time I wrote Bob’s story. “I met Bob Bolin in 1964, and we’ve had a close fellowship, both in sports and in the Lord,” Dr. Cathey told me. “I have spent many hours with him, laughing, joking, praying, preaching, talking about God. Bob and Irene Bolin are sincere, dedicated Christians. Their heart is set on God, and God has blessed them richly. They understand that, and they give glory to God in everything that has happened in their lives. Their children, Brett and Donna, are wonderful young people and have a great life in front of them. I count it a privilege to have been a friend to Bob and Irene Bolin.”

Dr. Cathey met Alvin through Bob. “Of course, I knew who he was,” Dr. Cathey said. “I had heard him playing ball on the radio, watched him on television, and got to see him in person a time or two, when I’d go to St. Louis and he would be playing there. I’ve always admired him, and, when I got to know him personally, I found out that his love for Jesus Christ is greater than his love for baseball. He is a dear friend, and I love being around him and Jackie.”

Bob was also good friends with another mutual friend, Sam Wyche, another good Christian man who is missed very much, and I have always thought highly of Sam and his wife, Jane, also. The evening of Wednesday, January 1, 2020, I sat with Bob and Irene at our church’s special New Year’s Day service held in our former sanctuary. Prior to the service, as we were talking, Bob spoke about Sam. He thought so well of him and enjoyed their visits together. I visited with Sam and Jane the following day, and it would be the last time I would see him here on earth, for he passed to heaven that day.

The photograph above is one I took of Bob and Irene when we went to hear Clebe McClary speak at Southern Wesleyan University’s chapel service honoring veterans in November of 2018. This is how I will always remember both Bob and Irene, always smiling. I’ll remember him for his sense of humor and our mutual likeness for westerns. I’ll remember the stories he shared about trips, including to Montana and Colorado. I’ll remember the unique way he had of growing tomatoes. I’ll remember them both as genuine, kind people.

At the time I interviewed Bob, I asked him how he would wish to be remembered, and he said that he would like to be remembered as an honest person who did not take advantage of anyone, and as a person that no one could remember anything bad about. That’s how everyone should live. He truly lived his faith.

Bob’s Christian faith was important to him, and he used his baseball career to help share the Gospel. He spoke across the country. “I speak at a lot of churches,” he told me. “I work baseball stories into life stories. I speak at some FCA groups. I share that, no matter what we do, we should remember that, if we don’t have Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we have lost our whole life.”

Bob told me that God had blessed his life. “I always look at where I was born and raised and how God had to have a plan to coordinate that whole thing. He gave me an opportunity to do something I enjoyed and got paid for it. I got to play for 17 years and never got hurt. He blessed me with a wonderful wife, two children, and grandkids. These last few years, He has blessed me with a good business. I speak to thousands of people all across the United States and get to share my life.”

Bob advised those who are unsaved to take an inventory of their life. “Suppose someone says that there is no heaven or hell, but, when you die, you just die. If I die, then I haven’t lost anything. But suppose I’m right, and suppose the Bible is right, that the saved go to heaven and the unsaved go to hell? Who will be better off? I think people need to understand there is a consequence to everything. Your choices are your life. In pitching, you’ve got a choice – curve ball, fast ball, slider. When you throw it, you can’t take it back. It’s over. The choice has already been made. The outcome is already there. That’s kind of the way our life is. We’ve got to make our choice before eternity comes, because we can’t make it afterwards.”

He added, “We need to be self-assured that our eternity is taken care of. One thing in life we’ve got to take care of is eternity.”