Faith And Baseball Intertwine In Long Valley Native’s Newest Film

LONG VALLEY, NJ — A Long Valley native’s newest film blends professional baseball and religious faith, two seemingly different concepts with more overlap than meets the eye.

Father Tom Gibbons’ newest documentary, “Baseball: Beyond Belief,” explores the similarities between religious faith and the phenomenon that is professional baseball.

The Catholic priest and his production company, Paulist Productions, have used film as a medium to connect the secular with the sacred for years. Gibbons’ newest film comes on the heels of two others, “Hollywood Priest: The Story of Fr. Bud Kieser” (2021) and “Isaac Hecker and the Journey of Catholic America” (2017).

This film was inspired by the book “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game,” by John Sexton. Sexton, formerly the President of New York University, taught classes around this concept, using ideas that would lead as the foundation for the film.

“It’ll help audiences look at baseball differently, and look at religion differently,” Gibbons, who serves as the film’s executive producer, said. “I would really like (audiences) to open their minds about religion, and open their minds about baseball, and just kind of come to some deeper understandings… I think this film will really help with people’s spiritual intelligence, no matter what religion they support, or what baseball team they follow.”

One example the film explores was the concept of both religion and baseball having “sacred spaces,” like how Catholics have St. Peter’s Square, and Muslims have Mecca, Red Sox fans have Fenway Park, and Yankees fans have Yankee Stadium.

Another example is the notion of memorialization and community, like the Catholic’s Communion of Saints, and baseball fans’ National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Religion and baseball, how does it teach us about morality? How does it teach us about belonging?” he asks. “Religion is supposed to point us towards experiences that are beyond immediate explanation, but then there are a lot of experiences people have watching baseball that are beyond explanation… Like the home run that wins the World Series all of a sudden, or plays that shouldn’t have been made that are made… Things some people might call miraculous.”

“Baseball: Beyond Belief” was created in partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB), so audiences can expect to see footage of historic moments in baseball history. Viewers can also expect to see interviews with MLB icons, including Curtis Granderson, Joe Torre, and Shawn Green, to name a few.

The film, written and directed by John Scheinfeld, was selected to be screened at the Garden State Film Festival next month. The showing is at the Berkeley Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom in Asbury Park at 2:50 p.m. on March 29.

The Garden State Film Festival, entering its 24th year, will screen more than 200 films over the course of four days in nine New Jersey venues. Click here to learn more about the festival.