Baseball to Business Ethics: How a Valedictorian Found His Purpose
A plot twist enthralls us when projected on a wide movie screen. But in real life, it seems as if human nature favors the expected, hoping to always be masters of our own fate. For instance, many even draft the ubiquitous five-year plan, striving to hit every life milestone in ideal time. So when the unexpected arrives, how should we respond?
“With prudence,” answers Seaver College graduate Corwin Hemmingsen, a valedictorian of the class of 2026.
Following a spinal injury that put an end to his D1 baseball career, Hemmingsen was left with decisions to make. A finance major who also led the accounting and financial departments of a family office, and soon to be wed to his now wife, Hemmingsen was already keeping many plates spinning—but one had just shattered. Having played baseball since he was 8 years old, he wasn’t just walking away from a metal bat and dirt-caked cleats, but a part of who he considered himself to be.
Both a contemplative and problem solver by nature, Hemmingsen turned to the great thinkers before him, echoing the Italian priest Thomas Aquinas, who considered prudence in his Summa Theologiae as “right reason applied to action”—or, in Hemmingsen's own words, “wisdom with action.” The Seaver valedictorian credits this ancient, yet practical reasoning with how he redrew the trajectory of his life.
In the fallback of his injury, Hemmingsen dove into his studies, curious in ways to apply the virtues of thinkers who inspired him to business ethics. Soon these interests led him to Jooho Lee, associate professor of business ethics and law, and Hemmingsen found himself at the center of the Faith and Business Initiative, closing out his senior year by winning a prestigious fellowship.
Baseball Beginnings
Under the sweltering Arizona sun, a high school-age Hemmingsen would trot up to bat, lining his feet square with home plate. Out in the stands he would see his sweetheart, Dominique, and smile before hitting a line drive.
From Mesa, Arizona, Hemmingsen’s childhood was spent playing catch with his father in their driveway, which turned into participating in travel leagues beginning at age eight. After continued success as a catcher and hitter in high school, colleges began to vie for his talent on their rosters.
Initially, Hemmingsen chose to join Arizona State University, but felt his spiritual life neglected.
“I grew up going to a Christian school, so I felt a spiritual void when initially enrolled at a secular college,” Hemmingsen explains. “So I chose to come to Pepperdine.”
Hemmingsen on the diamond as a Pepperdine Wave
At Pepperdine, Hemmingsen felt right at home as a Wave, often playing first base while serving as a valued hitter—baseballs would soar above the Pacific horizon line. But in 2024, due to overuse from high-impact, rotational, and load-bearing movements, Hemmingsen herniated four discs in his spine.
He then had the decision: to undergo a slew of painful and unpromising surgeries or devote his time in a new direction. Prudence. Well read even then, this virtue echoed in the future valedictorian’s mind. He considered the more practical decision to forgo the tumult of ongoing medical strains, recognizing that he did indeed have another calling
Still, walking away from baseball was not easy. Once a revered player that the crowd roared for and first-years on the team aspired to be, Hemmingsen had to remind himself that true validation comes from God alone:
“It is easy for many athletes to wonder: if my sport is taken away, who am I?” says Hemmingsen. “But as a Christian, I have to remind myself that Christ chose me in Him before I ever picked up a baseball, and my foremost identity is in Him alone.”
Armed with his deep faith, Hemmingsen hit the stacks.
Faith and Business
Early morning practice on the baseball diamond turned into dedicated research sessions. The absence of long bus rides now meant more time to speak one-on-one with his professors.
Enter Jooho Lee. Enrolled in Lee’s Religion 300 course, “Christianity and Business,” Hemmingsen immediately grew an interest in the melding of business ethics with Christian faith. Though these two subjects are often given a compartmentalized approach, Lee’s course reinforced that one’s Christian faith should inform one’s career, and broadly speaking, the ethics of how one lives out their calling.
As a finance major and finance professional, Hemmingsen was compelled by this philosophy and how it practically applied to his ongoing work. Questions arose in his mind—What were the Christian ethics of for-profit businesses? How can Christians steward prudent investments? —and soon, he was knocking on Lee’s door to visit office hours.
Often the two discussed these questions in the context of the “four greatest theologians: Augustine, Aquinas, John Calvin, Martin Luther,” as Hemmingsen says, striving to understand how Christian beliefs could remain consistent within the business world.
Hemmingsen speaking with students in the Light House
“God always has a plan,” says Hemmingen. “Because of my injury, I had more time to forge these relationships with my professors and to do more research on my own.”
The next steps of Hemmingsen’s “wisdom in action” began by delving deeper into the wisdom of the past, soon becoming an autodidact who would read great pieces of classical philosophy and theology cover-to-cover in his free time. Lee recognized Hemmingsen’s sincere curiosity for answers and invited the finance student to be his research assistant on economic theories of the firm at the intersection of business law and ethics. Now the two expect a forthcoming peer-reviewed publication within this year.
“Corwin exemplifies the best of the Pepperdine affirmation that, ‘truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly,’’’ says Lee. “I am impressed that he is unafraid to live out big ideas with courage while maintaining the humility to continue wrestling with them. I am a better person because I've had the pleasure of getting to know him during the past few years.”
During his senior year, Lee recommended Hemmingsen for a position within the Pepperdine Faith and Business Initiative’s Jere E. Yates Fellows. And Hemmingsen was accepted. Duties of this program ranged from forming curricula for Pepperdine’s business ethics connection chapels to leading discussions among first- and second-year students.
As a result of his exceptional academic excellence, Hemmingsen walked across the graduation stage as valedictorian.
Read and Achieve
Advice Hemmingsen would offer to any Seaver student striving toward the valedictorian gauntlet is to not only take advantage of Pepperdine’s small class sizes and network with faculty—but to also prop open their laptop, or better yet visit the library, and “read the books and research publications of your professors.”
“Teaching is a small part of a professor’s job,” Hemmingsen continues. “So you really only know them in that capacity, but the real core of what they do is their research and what they're contributing to the literature on their respective disciplines like economics or finance.”
Hemmingsen and Dominique graduated together
Above all, Hemmingsen considers the source of any prudence he has to be from God, “freely given and freely received.” But from his time as an athlete, he learned that despite God graciously giving gifts to His children, it is our responsibility to develop and steward them.
A Christian shoemarker, as it is said, does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes because God is interested in good craftsmanship. Hemmingsen considers this a message that resonates truly today: “I learned it is the same for baseball players, putting eye-black on your face in the shape of a cross doesn’t make you a greater representative of Christ,” says Hemmingsen.
Thus, the valedictorian has reached excellence not out of vainglory, but to further God’s kingdom. “We all have different gifts to steward out of obedience to God,” Hemmingsen continues. “No matter what they are, no matter if they change over time or remain the same, we try our best to do them well.”
Hemmingsen will surely use his gifts the best he can as he continues his professional work in the business sector while pursuing a part-time Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary before a possible doctorate.
Just as in his days behind the plate, reading the game and choosing each signal to the pitcher, the young professional, sage beyond his years, will continue to take each step forward in the business world with Christ-centered ethics and true “wisdom in action.”