This call wasn’t the umpire’s

Another potential baseball star is leaving the sport for more than a different field of work.

“As a top prospect for the Oakland Athletics, outfielder Grant Desme might’ve gotten the call every minor leaguer wants this spring.

“Instead, he believed he had another, higher calling.

“Desme announced Friday that he was leaving baseball to enter the priesthood, walking away after a breakout season in which he became MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

“I was doing well at ball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things,” the 23-year-old Desme said. “I wasn’t at peace with where I was at.”

Which is what any vocation is about. Other ballplayers heard that same call…

“Al Travers, who gave up 24 runs during a one-game career for a makeshift Detroit Tigers team in 1912, became a Catholic priest. More recently, Chase Hilgenbrinck of the New England Revolution left Major League Soccer in 2008 to enter a seminary.”

Burke Masters, did the same years ago. Now he’s Fr. Burke Masters, Vocations Director for the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois. Their stories are remarkable, especially to young men who – in their search for what to do in life – wouldn’t otherwise encounter the question of whether priesthood might be their call.

“Desme said he didn’t consider pursuing his spiritual studies while also trying to play ball. His family backed his decision and he said the positive reaction to his future goal — the surprising news spread quickly over the Internet — was “inspiring.”

“It’s about a 10-year process,” he said. “I desire and hope I become a priest.” In a way, he added, it’s like “re-entering the minor leagues.”

But when he’s finally called up to the majors this time, it will be on ordination day. And for Fr. Desme ‘out of season’ will take on a whole new meaning.

Way to go.