Frank John Viola, Jr. (born April 19, 1960) is an American former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1982–1989), New York Mets (1989–91), Boston Red Sox (1992–1994), Cincinnati Reds (1995) and Toronto Blue Jays (1996). A three-time All-Star, he was named World Series MVP with the Twins in 1987 and won the AL Cy Young Award in 1988. Long-time Tigers manager Sparky Anderson said of Viola, "...He's an artist; I love watching him work..." His overall career stats are impressive, with a 3.73 ERA, 176-150 record, 74 complete games, and 16 shutouts in 421 games.

He batted and threw left-handed, and was nicknamed "Sweet Music" – a nickname he picked up after a Minnesota sports writer declared that when Viola pitched, there was "Sweet Music' in the Dome. The nickname was a play on the fact that his last name is also a name of a musical instrument. A fan began displaying a banner bearing the phrase in the outfield's upper deck whenever Viola pitched. Twins fans considered the banner to be a good luck charm. The banner is now property of the Minnesota Historical Society. It was again displayed when Viola was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. Frank was honored as a member of the Twins' "All Dome" team in 2009.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Viola was born and grew up in East Meadow, New York, with his brother John and sister Nancy, and went on to attended and play baseball for East Meadow High School before playing collegiately for St. John's University. Viola was drafted following his freshman year in the 16th round of the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft by the Kansas City Royals, but he did not sign.

Minnesota Twins[link]

Viola signed with the Minnesota Twins after the team drafted him in the 2nd round of the 1981 Major League Baseball Draft. After spending less than a full season in the minor leagues, Viola made his major league debut on June 6, 1982. Although his statistics were fairly disappointing, finishing 11-25 with a 5.37 ERA in the 1982 and 1983 seasons, Viola became a permanent fixture of the Twins' starting staff for the next 7 seasons, picking up 112 of his 176 career wins.

Viola helped pitch the Twins to their second World Series appearance and first World Series win in 1987, finishing the season 17-10, with a 2.90 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 251 2/3 innings. Viola would then sparkle in the post-season, going a combined 3-1 with 25 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings despite a 4.31 ERA. Following the Twins' Game 7 series clinching win, a game which Viola won 4-2, he was named the 1987 World Series Most Valuable Player).

Most baseball enthusiasts agree that Viola's best year was 1988, his last full year with the Twins. That year, he threw his signature circle change with skill, compiling an impressive 24-7 record, with 7 complete games and 2 shutouts in 255 innings pitched with a career-low ERA of 2.64. He also gave up only 20 home runs, and 54 walks. Viola led the league in wins and would go on to win the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide, finshing with 27 of the 28 first place votes and beating out 2nd place Dennis Eckersley by 86 total votes.

New York Mets[link]

At the trade deadline in July 1989, two years after Viola had led the Twins to a World Series title, the Twins traded him to the New York Mets for four pitchers and a player to be named later. Viola was not having a strong year and was 8-12 when he was traded, but managed a 5-5 record with the Mets and finished the year at 13-17. Meanwhile, two of the pitchers the Twins acquired in the deal went on to become key members of the team, as Kevin Tapani was one of the front line starters for the Twins in their 1991 World Series run while Rick Aguilera eventually became the team's closer and one of the better relievers in the major leagues.

Viola had a much better year in 1990, winning 20 games for the second time in his career. He would finish third in the Cy Young Award voting behind Pittsburgh's Doug Drabek and Los Angeles' Ramón Martínez, and was named to the National League's All-Star Team.

In 1991, Viola made the All-Star Game for a third time after posting an 11-5 record in the first half of the season. However, as the Mets collapsed in the second half of the year to finish with a 78-84 record, Viola collapsed with them and went 2-10 in his final 12 decisions. His last win came in his second to last start with the Mets, on September 29 at Shea Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies. He became a free agent after the 1991 season when the Mets opted not to resign Viola.

Later career[link]

He signed with the Red Sox in January 1992. In a spring training game on April 2, 1993, Viola and Cory Bailey combined on a no-hitter as the Red Sox defeated the Phillies 10-0 at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium in Clearwater, Florida.^[1] He was injured while with the Red Sox and underwent Tommy John surgery. He finished his career with the Reds and Blue Jays, ending his career on May 28, 1996. He finished his career with 1844 strikeouts.

Statistics[link]

Batting[link]

Viola's two and a half seasons with the Mets in the National League gave him 179 at bats, enough to accumulate only 25 hits. He would get 6 more at bats in 1995 with the Reds and got 1 hit. Overall 26 for 185 was a .141 batting average. With 3 walks in his career, his on base percentage was .154. However, in his last season with the Mets he became more productive picking up 10 sacrifice hits and 2 doubles. He would end his career with 6 RBI.

Postseason[link]

He only got one chance in the postseason and he certainly made the most of it. It was with the Twins in 1987. After getting past the Detroit Tigers in the 1987 American League Championship Series, Viola and the Twins had to face favorites, the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Viola pitched Game 1, when the Twins blew the Cardinals away 10-1.

Game 4 was his second start, and the Twins went on to lose 7-2. After the Twins tied the series in Game 6 with an 11-5 win thanks to a Kent Hrbek grand slam, it was up to Viola in Game 7. He pitched a gem, shutting the Cardinals out after giving up 2 runs in the 2nd inning. Jeff Reardon pitched the ninth inning and the Twins won 4-2 and won the World Series 4-3. Viola was named World Series MVP.

Retirement[link]

In retirement, Viola for a time coached baseball for Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida. He also coached with the Florida College Summer League's Leesburg Lightning. In 2009, Frank assisted the Cleveland Indians as a coach in spring training. Frank was also a part-time, substitute game broadcast announcer for NESN, network of the Boston Red Sox. On January 26, 2011, Viola was hired as pitching coach of the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets' Single-A (Short Season) team.^[2] Viola is currently the pitching coach for the Savannah Sand Gnats, the Mets' Single-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League.

Daughter Brittany Viola was a diver at the University of Miami and narrowly missed making the 2004 United States Olympic diving team.^[3] Son Frank Viola III pitched in the Chicago White Sox minor league system. During baseball season, he serves as analyst for Bright House Sports Network on their studio show and for their Florida State League broadcasts. Frank III is currently working with Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey and Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro on developing a knuckleball that could save his baseball career. Daughter Kaley Viola currently plays volleyball at Winthrop University.

Info[link]

• Won the 1987 Babe Ruth Award
• World Series MVP in 1987
• Won the 1988 AL Cy Young Award
• Finished in the Top 10 in the league for innings pitched 7 times in his career
• Finished 3rd in the league shutouts in 1984 with 4
• All-Star in 1988, 1990, and 1991.
• Ranks tied for #93 in games started on the all-time leaderboard All-time GS leaders at BaseballReference.com
• Noted for his changeup.
• Gave up Rod Carew's 3000th career hit on August 4, 1985.
• Named pitching coach for the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones (NY Mets) on January 31, 2011.

See also[link]

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of Major League Baseball wins champions
• Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all time

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

George Barna (born 1955) is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture. He currently serves as the senior executive in Metaformation, an organization committed to "helping people optimize their life journey."

Background[link]

Barna grew up a Catholic in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey, but has since engaged with evangelical Christianity.^[3] He graduated summa cum laude from Boston College with a Bachelor's degree in sociology (along with a minor or secondary focus in religion), and holds two master's degrees from Rutgers University and a doctorate from Dallas Baptist University.

Barna leads seminars for church leaders, speaks at ministry conferences, has taught at seminaries, and has been a pastor. As an author, he has written more than four dozen books on contemporary Christian issues, with topics ranging from worldviews, trends and children to church life, spiritual growth and leadership. He also writes columns which are published on the website of The Barna Group. As a result of his work, Barna has coined several terms, including:

• Mosaic Generation – the demographic profile of those born between 1984 and 2002. According to Barna, this generation is "very mosaic in every aspect of their life." He continues, "There's no attribute that really dominates like you might have seen with prior generations." Barna also describes this group as "comfortable with contradiction", "post-modern" and exhibiting "non-linear" thinking.
• Theolographics – the theological perspectives and applications of people;
• Spiritainment – a portmanteau which refers to the blending of spirituality and entertainment, toward influencing people's spiritual perspectives.

He is married to Nancy Barna, and they have three adopted daughters — two from Guatemala, one from Russia.

Findings[link]

Barna is known for providing extensive surveys regarding Christianity and the state of the church. Among his findings that have generated substantial interest or controversy in recent years include:

• children are the most important population segment to minister to because of their spiritual teachability and developmental vulnerability;
• God transforms people's lives in connection with a 10-stop journey that is surprisingly consistent across people groups ^[4]
• Christian churches in the United States have been generally ineffective vessels for evangelism and discipleship;^{[citation needed]}
• most Protestant pastors are neither called to nor competent in leadership;^{[citation needed]}
• less than one out of every five born again adults possesses a Biblical world view;
• every church engages in marketing, but few do it well;^{[citation needed]}
• mass media has the most dramatic effect on people's behavior and beliefs;
• alternative forms of church life — including house churches — are growing rapidly;
• a growing group of spiritually devout Christians, known as Revolutionaries, are embracing a post-congregational narrative that is reshaping spiritual life in the U.S.;^{[citation needed]}
• most "church growth" is simply the recycling of church-goers from one congregation to another.^{[citation needed]}
• divorce rate amongst born-again Christians is significantly higher than that for atheist/agnostics.^[5] A more recent 2008 Barna report shows a closer divorce rate gap between born-again Christians (32% had been divorced) and atheist/agnostics (30% had been divorced).^[6]

Barna considers Maximum Faith to be his most significant book. Others that he cites as being especially valuable include Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, Think Like Jesus, The Power of Vision, and Revolution. Since 2009 he has been a writer for hire, penning books such as The Cause Within You, for Matthew Barnett, which became a New York Times bestseller in 2011.

Selected publications[link]

• Maximum Faith
• Futurecast
• Master Leaders*
• Pagan Christianity with Frank Viola
• Revolution
• The Frog in the Kettle
• The Power of Vision
• Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions
• The Seven Faith Tribes
• Think Like Jesus

See also[link]

• Emerging Church

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Barna Group Website
• About George Barna
• Pagan Christianity Website
• Maximum Faith website

Leonard I. Sweet is an author, pastor, and scholar currently serving as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School, in Madison, New Jersey; and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon. He is regularly voted one of the most influential Christian leaders in America.^[1][2] Sweet is ordained in the United Methodist denomination.^[3]

Biography[link]

Before becoming the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Sweet had been Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew from 1995 to 2000. Prior to his appointments at Drew University, he served as President and Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. His first academic administration position was as Provost and Associate Professor of Church History at Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary.

Sweet is founder and President of SpiritVenture Ministries. His writings focus on the study of Semiotics.

He is the author of more than forty books, hundreds of articles (many of a scholarly and technical nature), and over 50 prefaces/forewords to others' books. He has over 1000 published sermons, and currently is the chief weekly contributor to the lectionary-based sermons.com. Sweet has weekly podcasting on iTunes entitled Napkin Scribbles.

Sweet has served a term on the council of the American Society of Church History and was an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion for ten years. An honors and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Richmond, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate/Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer and Ph.D from the University of Rochester. Sweet is the recipient of honorary Doctorates of Divinity from University of Richmond, Baker University, Lebanon Valley College, and Otterbein College.

Sweet lectures around the world and has spoken in various locations including China, Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong; Australia, New Zealand; Canada, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Latvia, Iceland, and Scotland.

Sweet has been an advocate of the attempt to contextualize Christianity into digital culture.^[4]

Bibliography[link]

• Black Images of America, 1784-1870 (Norton, 1976) (ISBN 0-393-05569-8, ISBN 0-393-09195-3)
• New Life in the Spirit (Westminster John Knox Press, 1982). (Chinese Edition 1986) (ISBN 0-664-24414-9)
• The Minister’s Wife: Her Role in Nineteenth-Century American Evangelicalism (Temple University Press, 1983) (ISBN 0-87722-283-5)
• Editor, The Evangelical Tradition in America (Mercer University Press, 1984) (Reprinted 1997) (ISBN 0-86554-092-6)
• The Lion's Pride (Abingdon Press, 1987) (ISBN 0-687-21857-8)
• Quantum Spirituality: a Postmodern Apologetic (Whaleprints, 1991) (ISBN 1-882122-01-1)
• Editor, Communication and Change in American Religious History (Eerdmans, 1993) (ISBN 0-8028-0682-1)
• FaithQuakes (Abingdon Press, 1994) (ISBN 0-687-12647-9)
• Health and Medicine in the Evangelical Tradition (Trinity Pr Intl, 1994) (ISBN 1-56338-097-8)
• Strong in the Broken Places (University of Akron Press, 1995) (ISBN 1-884836-09-7; paperback ISBN 1-884836-10-0)
• The Jesus Prescription for a Healthy Life (Abingdon Press, 1996) (ISBN 0-687-01491-3)
• A Cup of Coffee at the SoulCafe (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998) (ISBN 0-8054-0159-8)
• Eleven Genetic Gateways to Spiritual Awakening (Abingdon Press, 1998) (ISBN 0-687-05173-8)
• Soul Tsunami: Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture (Zondervan, 1999) (ISBN 0-310-22762-3)
• Aqua Church: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture (Group Publishing, 1999) (Translated into Korean and Chinese, reissued by Cook Communications in 2008) (ISBN 0-7644-2151-4)
• SoulSalsa (Zondervan, 2000) (Korean translation, 2002) (ISBN 0-310-23014-4)
• Postmodern Pilgrims: A 1st Century Passion for a 21st Century Church (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000) (ISBN 0-8054-2137-8)
• The Dawn Mistaken for Dusk: If God so Loved the World, Why Can't We? (Zondervan, 2000) (First religion e-book on Amazon.com)
• Carpe Manana: Is Your Church Ready to Seize Tomorrow? (Zondervan, 2001) (ISBN 0-310-23947-8)
• A is for Abductive (Zondervan, 2001) (ISBN 0-310-24356-4)
• Jesus Drives Me Crazy (Zondervan, 2003) (ISBN 0-310-23224-4)
• Editor, The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives (Zondervan, 2003) (ISBN 0-310-25487-6)
• Summoned to Lead (Zondervan, 2004) (Korean translation, 2007) (ISBN 0-310-23222-8)
• Out of the Question...Into the Mystery: Getting Lost in the Godlife Relationship (WaterBrook Press, 2004) (ISBN 1-57856-647-9)
• The Three Hardest Words In The World To Get Right (WaterBrook Press, 2006) (ISBN 1-57856-648-7)
• The Gospel According to Starbucks (WaterBrook Press, 2007)
• The Voice from on High (Thomas Nelson, 2007)
• The Voice: Genesis (Thomas Nelson, 2008)
• The Church of the Perfect Storm (Abingdon, 2008)
• 11: Indispensable Relationships You Can't Be Without (Cook Communications, 2008)
• Postmodern and Wesleyan?: Exploring the Boundaries and Possibilities (Beacon Hill Press, 2009) (ISBN 978-0834124585)
• So Beautiful (Cook Communications, 2009)
• Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2010) (ISBN 978-0849946011)
• Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There (David C. Cook, 2010) (ISBN 1434764745)
• The Seraph Seal (with Lori Wagner) (Thomas Nelson, 2011) (ISBN 978-0849920776)
• Real Church in a Social Network World: From Facebook to Face-to-Face Faith (WaterBrook Press, 2011) (e-book) (ASIN B004Y89RKI)
• I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus (Thomas Nelson, 2012) (ISBN 978-0849946387)
• Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to Ignite Revival (WaterBrook Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-0307459152)
• What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person (WaterBrook Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-0307730572)
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Revive Us Again (Abingdon Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-1426740329)
• Jesus: A Theography (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2012) (ISBN 978-0849947025)

References[link]

External links[link]

• LeonardSweet.com
• A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century
• sermons.com
• Spirit Venture Ministries
• Lead Mentor, Semiotics & Future Studies DMin track at George Fox Evangelical Seminary
• Quantum Spirituality e-book by Leonard Sweet
• The Dawn Mistaken for Dusk: If God so Loved the World, Why Can't We? e-book by Leonard Sweet