ANAHEIM, Calif. — Thirty-four-year old Torii Hunter is an All Star now, a Golden Glove winner, a Los Angeles Angels fan favorite, a future Hall of Famer, a multimillionaire.
But the Bible-savvy Pine Bluff native took a slow path to the Promised Land. He wandered for six years through the minor league wilderness of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Fort Myers, Fla.; Hardware City [aka New Britain], Conn.; and Salt Lake City. And he doubted, sometimes, that he'd ever make it to Big League glory.
"I wanted to make it to the Major Leagues so bad. I'm 17 and 18 and 19 [years old] going through the minor league system and I almost quit," he recalls. "So my mom told me to read Psalm 27."
It's a short chapter - 14 verses of pure encouragement.
The psalm starts with a bang: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
It finishes with a flourish, Hunter notes. "At the end, it says, 'Be patient and wait. Be courageous and wait patiently for the Lord.'"
Written by an Israelite perhaps 3,000 years ago, passed along by Shirley Hunter of Pine Bluff, the closing words of Psalm 27 inspired Torii Hunter so much that he added them to his wardrobe back in the 1990s.
"I wrote that [verse] in my hat," he said, standing in front of his locker before a July game against the New York Yankees. "Every day, I took my hat off in the outfield or whatever and I'd look and I'd read it and put it back on."
Patience became a priority for the center fielder.
"It wasn't just getting to the majors. Be patient about everything, not just baseball," he said.
Patience came in handy this summer. The Angels placed Hunter on the disabled list July 10 after he suffered a groin strain.
The injury prevented him from playing in July's All Star game in St.Louis, and kept him sidelined for more than a month.
The injury even meant a brief trip back to the minors, to Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
In between rehab sessions with team trainers, right before the All Star break, Hunter paused to talk about his family, his faith and the 2009 Angels.
"This team definitely can make itto the World Series," he said.
It has been a painful season - more difficult than the win-loss record would indicate. Pitcher Nick Adenhart died in a hit-and-run crash in April, the victim of a drunken driver.
"We lost a teammate early. We had injuries to key guys. Four key guys. All stars," Hunter said. "We kept our composure. Now we're playing consis-tent baseball. We're doing well. All the trials and everything that we've been through, we're still consistent."
In tough times, people say, Hunter has been a spiritual and athletic role model.
Angels broadcaster Jose Mota says Hunter shows people "the spirit of God every single day."
"He's a guy that really portrays a good spirit when it comes down to treating people the right way. ... He knows how to make people feel good.
"He's not a guy that needs to be out there telling you [he's aChristian], but you can see it," Mota said. "You can tell there's a spiritual sense in him that really drives him and keeps him at peace."
Former Angels pitcher Justin Speier said Hunter is "an inspiration to me and my walk and my faith."
"I've never met someone who has so much things of this world, but maintained his humility throughout it all," Speier said. "He says 'hi' to everybody. He talks to everybody. He gives everybody a smile or an autograph. He's so accommodating and it's a tribute to the person he is, but more importantly, it's a tribute to the Christ that lives inside of him."
Hunter, who grew up attending Indiana Street Baptist Church and New St. Hurricane Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, is a regular at Angels' Sunday chapel services. And, like millions of other Americans, he's got a copy of The Purpose Driven Life, the best-selling 2002 book by megachurch pastor Rick Warren.
Asked about God's plans for Torii Hunter, the ballplayer said: "His purpose for me, I think for all people, is just to go out there and glorify Him and walk in His image, and that's what I try to do."
After all these years, Hunter said, Psalm 27 remains his favorite passage of Scripture.
In part, it declares: "I willsing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord."
So, what praises does Hunter like to sing?
The baseball star laughed when asked the question, his mind flashing back from Anaheim, Calif., to Arkansas.
"When I was a kid," Hunter said, "My favorite song was ..."
And then - in the middle of the Angels clubhouse, with game time nearing - he smiled and unleashed a familiar melody: "Jesus loves the little children," he sang softly. "All the children of the world."
"That was my favorite," Hunter said. "Every time I heard it, it was like 'Wow. That's awesome.'"
Religion, Pages 14, 15 on 08/22/2009