I stopped having sports heros sometime during high school\u2013mainly because I\u00a0aspired\u00a0to be one myself. I played organized baseball since I was 9. My parents were German\u00a0immigrants\u00a0and so I had to discover the game for myself. And like most of the good things that happened in my life, baseball and I met unexpectedly.<\/p>\n I was flipping channels on June 8, 1969 and landed on WPIX channel 11. It was Mickey Mantle Day, the\u00a0celebration\u00a0of the career of an immortal player.\u00a0Something\u00a0grabbed me and I was drawn into the Yankee\u00a0mystique, without knowing what that was.\u00a0I shudder to think what I would have become had I stopped flipping at WOR channel 9 and\u00a0become\u00a0a Mets fan. Like the guy who missed his flight that later went down in a storm, I choose not to dwell on that.<\/p>\n On that day I also became a baseball fan and I played the next season. My first uniform was a green t-shirt with \u201cV.F.W.\u201d on the front and a flannel hat. I still have the hat in my man-cave, though the \u201cRV\u201d (River Vale, NJ) fell off who knows how long ago. I wore number six, like my hero at the time, Roy White.<\/p>\n I remember they made me a catcher. I remember more vividly finding out soon enough why catchers wear cups. I remember my first hit\u2013a single up the middle\u2013and the crack of the bat. Aluminum bats were introduced the next year and generations of kids will never know the absolute perfection of what it feels like to hit a baseball on the sweet spot and hear a crack instead of a ping. As corny as it sounds,\u00a0I remember the small of the leather glove. To this day, whenever I pick up a glove I hold it to my nose and take in deep draft of what I am sure heaven smells like.<\/p>\n From that moment on, all I wanted to do was play baseball. I didn\u2019t know what a biblical scholar was, or what they did (I still don\u2019t).<\/p>\n I played all through grade school, high school, and college. I didn\u2019t make my grade school team until I was in 8th<\/p>\n That’s me on the left looking menacing (no comments on the hair). Book authored by teammate Ken Dunn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n grade or my high school team until I was a senior. I grew late and couldn\u2019t keep up. I had an OK college career and threw hard enough to attract the attention of some scouts. I still hold a few Messiah College records<\/a>: most wild pitches (career and single season), most walks (single season) and and most strikes outs per nine innings (12.52 in 1982). I just reared back and threw. I didn\u2019t care where the ball went.<\/p>\n Along the way I suffered two\u00a0debilitating\u00a0injuries. I blew out my elbow one week after my college career ended, working out with a local team as I was getting for a tryout with\u00a0the\u00a0Baltimore Orioles. I didn\u2019t know it then, but my career was over as soon as I hear my elbow pop. The other injury I suffered a year earlier\u2013like Mariano, I tore my ACL and some\u00a0cartilage (playing intramural soccer). I never really recovered.<\/p>\n When I saw Mo go down in the outfield shagging flies, I winced with pain and nearly grabbed my own knee. The pain is excruciating. Mo swears he will not go out like this, but on his terms. I hope so. Knee injuries are treated very\u00a0differently\u00a0today than 30 years also, but Mo is also 42. My money says that he is not coming back, and if he does, he won\u2019t be \u201cMo.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyway, forgive the self-indulgence. This post started as a pointer to Michael Mercer\u2019s excellent post, but once you wind me up, well, you just have to let things play out or I get cranky. A lot of memories were triggered the last few days, and Michael\u2019s post brought it all together for me. I hope you have a chance to read it, Yankee fan or not.<\/p>\n Profesional\u00a0athletes\u00a0get a bum rap. Many of them are high school draft picks who\u00a0grow up in hotel rooms going from game to game, and it is sometimes easy to understand the stupid things they do and say. But Mo. Well, he\u2019s not like that. He is a man of grace, honor, and humility\u2013not to mention the greatest reliever who ever lived.<\/p>\n Saying goodbye to Mo is like saying goodbye to another part of my childhood. I hope it\u2019s not yet.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Mo-pitching.jpeg?ssl=1\" "\\"Mo")
<\/a>Michael Mercer, over at Internet Monk, posted today a wonderful piece<\/a> on a man I have admired for the past 17 years, Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera. It is a great post, and reading it took me back for a few minutes\u2026..<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/MC-baseball-1.jpg?resize=263%2C350&ssl=1\" "\\"MC")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Mo-crutches.jpeg?resize=161%2C312&ssl=1\" "\\"Mo")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebiblefornormalpeople.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Mo-injury.jpeg?resize=273%2C185&ssl=1\" "\\"Mo")
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