The affect of the war on the career stats of Williams, DiMaggio, Feller, and others is too often forgotten. The very notion of famous athletes (and entertainers for that matter) even having served is lost on most young fans.

 

Pat Tillman's wife says HI!

Pat Tillman's wife says HI!

He's the reason I qualified it with "most". His decision to volunteer was commendable, selfless, and brave, but doesn't seem to me it had the impact on the public (and young people in particular) that the service of baseball deities like DiMaggio, Williams, and Feller did.

He's the reason I qualified it with "most". His decision to volunteer was commendable, selfless, and brave, but doesn't seem to me it had the impact on the public (and young people in particular) that the service of baseball deities like DiMaggio, Williams, and Feller did.

 

That's because we live in more of a 'Me' society than ever before. Less patriotic, less respectful towards the officials we elected, and much, much more about 'how is this going to help me, specifically.'

 

The whole 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' speech would never be given today.

Edited August 19, 201313 yr by ThePuck

That's because we live in more of a 'Me' society than ever before. Less patriotic, less respectful towards the officials we elected, and much, much more about 'how is this going to help me, specifically.'

 

The whole 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' speech would never been given today.

 

Not to steer this into politics... I'll just say there's a lot of reasons people choose not to serve. Some are as you describe... quite me centered... Others are quite valid.

Not to steer this into politics... I'll just say there's a lot of reasons people choose not to serve. Some are as you describe... quite me centered... Others are quite valid.

 

I have no doubt about that...I also don't blame anyoen for not serving..that wasn't really what I was saying. He was talking about how Tillman choosing to serve had less an affect on the general public than MLB players who chose to serve back in the day.

I have no doubt about that...I also don't blame anyoen for not serving..that wasn't really what I was saying. He was talking about how Tillman choosing to serve had less an affect on the general public than MLB players who chose to serve back in the day.

 

Well, I think by and large it boils down to a couple of things:

 

1. Tillman did not have the public recognition of DiMaggio, Williams, et al

 

2. People are going to be more dismissive of enlistment when a huge portion of the public disagrees with the war itself

 

I think it's terribly unfair to compare anything about WWII to the Iraq War, much less glean any real information about society from it.

Having not read page 1, I'm flabergasted how a thread with this title veered into who is the greatest player ever, and who are our heroes and how do we measure their life! Wow.

 

*this is an amused post, btw, not a rant....

That's because we live in more of a 'Me' society than ever before. Less patriotic, less respectful towards the officials we elected, and much, much more about 'how is this going to help me, specifically.'

 

The whole 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' speech would never be given today.

 

Yeah, I remember feeling a burning pit of shame in my stomach when an Iraq veteran was booed at the Republican Primary Debate for bringing up Dont Ask Dont Tell.

 

Even in this day and age of extremely divided politics, I could not believe that I was seeing a veteran who volunteered his life for his country, being loudly booed, and not a single Presidential candidate said a word in his honor.

 

And yes, I realize we've veered WAY off topic at this point.

That's because we live in more of a 'Me' society than ever before. Less patriotic, less respectful towards the officials we elected, and much, much more about 'how is this going to help me, specifically.'

 

The whole 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' speech would never be given today.

 

I would be careful to so romanticize the past compared to the present. World War II was the exception not the rule.

And yes, I realize we've veered WAY off topic at this point.

You mean from the de facto subject of wartime HOF greats and the effect of missed time on their career stats, or the original topic, "infield defense"?

 

For the record, I'm in favor of a strong infield defense in peacetime as long as it doesn't have an overly negative effect on other areas of the Twins' domestic spending.

I would be careful to so romanticize the past compared to the present. World War II was the exception not the rule.

 

Romanticize? If you are looking for romance novels, my wife recommends the ones by Janet Evanovich.

 

/ in case I'm being too subtle - this thread, entertaining in a certain perverse way, is now on a close watch...