Where Have All Our Heroes Gone?

Heroes are self-made or given that status by we, the people. Heroes are elevated. Heroes are destroyed. It never seems to be enough to just reach the top and do it in an honest way. We watched the rise of Tiger Woods and the toppling of him.

 
Now along came the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame. No one was elected into this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame by the voting members, the sports writers. This was only the second time that this happened where no one was voted into the Hall. Oh, there were eligible players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Both are controversial figures embroiled in steroid usage. They didn’t receive one vote. Maybe this was a year to drive home a point to the baseball sports world.

 

And of course there is the drama around Lance Armstrong, who finally confessed to his usage of drugs during his Seven Tours de France winds. Of course his admission was on national television, as if this will help. Why? I don’t know. But he spent an awful lot of time embroiled in his lies and denials, along with destroying other people along the way. Maybe he should just confess and just go away without all this drama.

 

Other so called heroes that we elevate and elect to lofty positions have let us down with their choices and actions. I assume because they love their position and that they are only human.

 

Over the weekend, my daughter got married and had the reception at Engine House #25, The Roberto Clemente Museum. This independent, non-profit museum is dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of Roberto Clement.

 

Looking at all of the memorabilia that was in the Museum was a treat for me. I was raised up as a New York Yankees fan by my father and brother. After reading the bios and information of each player, my favorite Yankee player was Lou Gehrig. When I visited Cooperstown with my brother, he brought me a Lou Gehrig Yankee’s jersey. It is one of my favorite possessions.

 

But after coming to Pittsburgh in 1977, and learning about Roberto Clement, I have to say he was the real deal, the true hero, the one who played the game of baseball with love. He came to the Pirates in 1954 and became the greatest baseball player of his time.

 

In his 18 year career, Clemente received every possible award that Major League Baseball could offer. But it was off the field that he excelled as a husband and father of three little boys. He was known as a humanitarian. Thus on December 31, 1972, Clemente was killed in an airplane crash while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

 

Ironically both Clemente and Gehrig were elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame without having to wait the five year period.

 

When Clemente died, the world lost one of the greatest baseball players of all time. A wife and three little boys lost a husband and father. The world lost a true hero.