In 2014, Sister Paulette Doyas was featured on WBAL TV Channel 11 in Baltimore. The story called her “The Baseball Nun” and told of her total devotion to the Baltimore Orioles, who were down two games to nothing in the American League Championship series. Sister Paulette had hoped that prayer would bring the birds better luck, but they would go on to lose the first four games of the series, eliminating them from a World Series spot.
Sister Paulette, who has worked for Notre Dame of Maryland University for more than 40 years, has an office filled with angels and Orioles memorabilia. But she won’t call it a shrine. The baseball collectibles bring back memories of a lifetime spent cheering on the O’s, through good times and bad. “I'm a fan no matter what they do,” Sister Paulette told 11 News back then. When we followed up with her, we found her opinion on that has not changed.
The interview noted that some players seem to be banned from her office, like Rafael Palmeiro, whose outstanding baseball achievements were overshadowed by accusations that he used performance-enhancing substances. At the time of the interview, his bobblehead was nowhere to be found among the others bobbing around the room. She also had a blank space on her wall where a picture of pitching ace Mike Mussina used to hang before he ditched the Orioles for a lucrative offer from the Yankees.
Mussina still hasn’t made it back to the wall, but she had a change-of-heart about Palmeiro. “I have re-considered Rafael,” Sister confirmed. “I think he was kind of thrown under the bus, so he is back on my shelf.”
It’s not even the All-Star break, and the Orioles are currently on course to have one of their worst seasons ever in 2018. “There for awhile, it looked like the O’s were playing T-ball,” Sister Paulette admitted. Yet she will never give up on them turning things around. “I still have faith!!!!!” she proclaimed enthusiastically in a recent email.
(You can find the original WBAL interview with Sister Paulette here.)
