I’ve actually met Brian Dozier twice.

The first time I met Brian was in Fort Myers, Florida in 2012 (if you can call it that). My sister, mom and I had just arrived for a game at Hammond Stadium, the Minnesota Twins Spring Training facility. Laura had a baseball and we waited outside the locker room for the players to emerge before the game. Most of the players walked right past us – Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span…I told Laura we should just move on and find our seats. But she waited, and eventually some minor leaguer who I had never seen (and would probably not make it through spring training) came up, grabbed her ball and signed his name on it. He thanked her for coming to the game and jogged to catch up to the rest of the team.

She was elated to have any sort of autograph and I rolled my eyes, now seeing a perfectly new Twins baseball marked up by a player we didn’t recognize. She scanned through the pre-season magazine and eventually decided the B…..D…. signature must be a hopeful infielder named Brian Dozier.

Fast-forward 4 years later and this unknown infielder made headlines as the first AL second baseman to ever hit 40 home runs in a single season (he’d end the season with 42). He is without a doubt the best player on the Minnesota Twins (which perhaps isn’t saying much) and probably the best second baseman in the American League.

This past summer I celebrated my bachelorette party at a Twins game. It was a beautiful night and we notched a (somewhat rare) win. After the game a few of the players set up a “faith night” – an opportunity to hear them share about their faith and testimonies. As a Christian it was incredible to see some of my favorite players talk about how for them baseball takes second place to Jesus. Dozier took his turn on the microphone not to share his testimony or an inspirational speech, but the gospel. Unashamedly he stood in front of the crowd declaring Jesus to be the only way to know God and the most important decision you could ever make in your life. He invited anyone who was compelled that night to surrender their lives to following Jesus.

(If he wasn’t my favorite player before that night, he certainly was now!)

About 3 months later, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and saw that Brian Dozier had posted a picture of himself and his wife on an airplane with the caption: “Headed to Taiwan for the MLB Taiwan ambassador tour!”

Wait…what?

(PS my husband and I live on this small island in east Asia that most people can’t locate on a map called TAIWAN)

I jumped off the couch and interrupted Travis while he was studying to tell him the great news. He nodded, looked at the picture, and went back to work. (It’s a cool coincidence Rachel, but what are the chances of actually meeting him?)

Travis, we need to meet him! We need to find him and hang out with him!

(I learned at this point how it feels to be the recipient of the eye roll)…

I sent Brian and his wife a message on Instagram offering to take them out to dinner or show them around the city. We didn’t get a reply, but I wasn’t giving up! There was no way my favorite baseball player could come to my obscure country without me at least trying to meet him.

I found an article in Chinese about his appearance in Taipei and sent it to three friends to translate it for me. They couldn’t really make sense of it so I kept digging. Finally I found an address…not a time or even a place, but an address. So I grabbed my husband and my baseball jersey and hopped on the train for an adventure with a hopefully happy ending.

We got off the train and started scouring the streets for any sign of a baseball clinic. We sat on a bench after looking for several minutes with no leads. Travis zoomed in on his map and it seemed we were standing in the exact place where Brian Dozier was supposed to be. But we were looking at a normal sidewalk with no traffic. Finally, Travis turned around and saw a crowd about 50 yards away – could they be listening to Brian Dozier?

We hustled over to the plaza and sure enough, there he was! I ran to the side of the stage hoping to connect with him when he finished (perhaps that security guard was taking a bathroom break). After his interview he climbed down the stage on the other side, but caught sight of us as he turned around. I waved my hands in the air like a total idiot and he smiled and waved us over. (It’s not every day you see a Twins jersey in Asia).

He asked us if we were the missionaries who sent him the message and apologized for not responding. He said the tour had filled every minute of his time and he and his wife regretted that they didn’t have time to grab a meal with us. We spoke for a few minutes and then we asked if we could get a picture with him (because my mom would never believe I met BD in ASIA!). He said “sure, can I get one too?”

To top off our cool story, we woke up the next morning and found our picture on his instagram!

My favorite thing about baseball is that the game is never truly over until the final out. It’s not bound by a clock and there’s no limit on how many runs you can score in an inning. A team could be down by 30 runs with one out left in the game and still win. It’s the beauty of baseball.

Just like my sister Laura didn’t give up on an autograph or I didn’t give up on meeting Brian Dozier – some of our best stories come from pushing past adversity. To seeing failure as an opportunity to reassess our strategy or our route. And never believing it’s over until it’s truly over.

Thanks Brian – GO TWINS!