A titan of baseball is dead

By Tom Quiner

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3afDt71vLS4]

Bob Feller died yesterday at the age of nine-two.

He grew up down the road in Van Meter Iowa. This Iowa kid became know as “Rapid Robert” for his extraordinary prowess throwing a baseball.

As he began carving out an extraordinary baseball career, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Mr. Feller quickly enlisted in the Navy and volunteered for combat duty. Service to his country came first. His military career was distinguished and he was decorated with five campaign ribbons and eight battle stars.

Many have speculated how many additional baseball records he would have set had his career not been interrupted by the war. After all, he gave up nearly four years of his prime years in service to the country.

Bob Feller didn’t look at it that way. Country came first, baseball second. His view was:

“During a time of all-out war, sports are very insignificant.  Life comes down to honesty and doing what’s right. That’s what’s most important.  Our Constitution is more important than baseball.”

His words of wisdom serve us all well.

The above ESPN tribute to Bob Feller does a good job of summarizing this titan of baseball. He represents everything that is good about America.