PERFECT!

99.94! If there ever was an iconic ball-game statistic, that is it. 99.94! The batting average of the Australian cricketer, Sir Don Bradman (1908–2001), said to have been the best of his kind ever. His statistics show that no other athlete has so dominated a sport to the extent Bradman had cricket. A phenomenon. One statistician crunched the numbers of prominent sportsmen by comparing the number of standard deviations they stand above the mean for their respective sport. Bradman topped them all at 4.4 (Pelé had 3.7; Ty Cobb, 3.6; Jack Nicklaus, 3.5; and Michael Jordan, 3.4). Bradman pretty much broke every record there was to break in cricket, some of them still unbroken, after half a century, including the iconic number 99.94! Perfection! To attain to that golden number, a baseball batter would need a batting average of .392 and a basketball player would need to score an average of 43 points per game!

His early years were spent in Bowral in New South Wales and, a few months ago, I had the delight of visiting that fair metropolis and the “Oval,” where Bradman played his first games. Malcolm, an old Dallas Seminary friend and Aussie, led me to those hallowed grounds.

Songs have been sung about Bradman, movies have been made, children have been named and ships christened “Bradman” (HMS Bradman, alas, was sunk by a German aircraft in 1940). An Austrian Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft (yes, Austrian!) is called “Donald Bradman.” Stamps and coins have been struck for him. There’s even a hybrid tea rose named for Bradman.

He was the Englishman’s nemesis, singly serving to give the Aussies victory time and again. One English cricket writer wrote, upon Bradman’s retirement, “A miracle has been removed from among us. So must ancient Italy have felt when she heard of the death of Hannibal.” The British, however, were magnanimous enough to knight the man in 1949.

But not even Bradman comes close to true perfection. No one does.

… it is written,
“There is none righteous,
not even one.”
… for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.
Romans 3:10, 23

Except for One. The Perfect One.

… holy, innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners and
exalted above the heavens ….
Hebrews 7:26

Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The One who had no sin, but came to die for ours. And for those who believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only God, for salvation, to them ...

He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf,
so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

And those who so believe become the children of God.

But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right
to become children of God.
John 1:12

Nowadays the Bradman Foundation governs and protects the name of the great sportsman. “Bradman Bitter Ale” was quashed in court. “Bradman Corporation,” a group of Sydney developers, was forced to become “Bradcorp” and had to surrender the domain name bradman.com.au. (They have so far left alone Melbourne-based wrestler, Bradman, who supposedly once said: “Life is fake, wrestling is real.”)

No such copyright on the name of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, God wants us to call on His name.

Whoever will call on
the Name of the Lord
will be saved.
Romans 10:13

For …

… there is salvation in no one else;
for there is no other Name
under heaven …
by which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

For He is the One. The Perfect One.