St. Louis Sports Online

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Mike Huss "The Fuss According to Huss" St. Louis Sports Online lead columnist and host of "Sportstalk" on WGNU AM-920 (8:00-9:00 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays)

Very early Monday morning, Joe Di Maggio died. Baseball's legendary Yankee Clipper was 84 years old and succumbed to lung cancer after a long illness.

Glowing tributes came from near and far, from the East Coast and the West Coast, from the New York Times to the USA Today to the Wall Street Journal, from baseball people to politicians. Even Hemmingway, and Simon & Garfunkel used the name of Di Maggio in their works.

Joe D. retired from baseball three years before I was born. Many members of my generation are quite aware of his accomplishments on the field: the man who compiled a 56 game hitting streak. A lifetime .325 hitter with over 2200 career hits. The man who played in ten World Series. The man whose monument stands grandly behind the Yankee Stadium Center Field Wall.

Yet to others of my age and beyond, Di Maggio was the simply guy who appeared on the Mr. Coffee or Bowery Savings Bank commercials. Or he was Mr. Marilyn Monroe.

This is unfortunate. But it is more and more typical in today's society.

It is ironic that in today's era of Cable Television and Internet/Global communications, society in general does not have a grasp of history. Those who are frequent viewers of the Tonight Show can see Jay Leno talk to people on the streets of Burbank, Hollywood, or Los Angeles and quiz them on routine facts of history or common knowledge.

We giggle when someone can not identify Thomas Jefferson or the names of their United States Senators, but yet have no trouble repeating the phrase uttered by the Taco Bell dog.

Again, this is unfortunate. But it is not unusual.

Today's era of baseball players are no different. Most do not have the grasp of those who came before them. Many of today's stars are not aware of, or perhaps do not care about the players who paved the way for them in Major League Baseball.

With apologies to Mr. Leno, I would enjoy walking through the camps of Florida and Arizona and ask some simple questions:

What is the reserve clause??

Who is Curt Flood??

Why is Peter Seitz significant in the history of baseball??

Who is Marvin Miller, and who is Andy Messersmith??

My guess would be that today's ball players would score as low or perhaps lower than those California Jay Walking respondents.

Again, we may laugh to hide or disappointment and/or our disgust.

Although loyal Yankee followers can recite with pride the history from Ruth and Gehrig, to Di Maggio, to Mantle, to Reggie Jackson, to Don Mattingly to Bernie Williams, one would have to wonder how many of the current Pin Stripers are aware of this lineage.

Here in St. Louis, local historians can boastfully trace the Cardinal franchise from Hornsby to Frankie Frisch to Musial and Schoendienst, to Gibson and Brock, to Ozzie to Mc Gwire. But in today's hired gun era of Free Agency, legacies are only in history books.

Again, that is unfortunate.

Baseball has always provided the link from decade to decade and from generation to generation. It has served as a type of demilitarized zone. The game and its history has consistently broken down the walls of the Generation Gap.

All professional sports, not just the National Past Time, need to educate their stars on the history of their game. The National Football League need to remind their players that before television took over their game, there was George Halas and Jim Brown and Art Rooney. The games were not played in the palaces they now perform. Rather, NFL teams competed in converted baseball stadiums such as Wrigley Field and Commiskey Park in Chicago, Forbes Field in Pittsburgh Yankee Stadium in New York.

Today's Generation X'ers in the N B A need to know about the dominance of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West; all well before Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan made the scene. They also need to know about the ABA and that Sports Center was not always next.

It is the duty of the National Hockey League to inform their players that there was a time when the league consisted of only six teams. An era when the skaters played without helmets or face shields and the goal tenders did not wear face masks. A time when Gordie Howe would get cut and require thirty stitches in the first period, before scoring a third period goal for the Red Wings.

We have learned in today's environment of sports-live for today.

"Where have you gone, Joe Di Maggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you".

Perhaps Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said it best when asked to comment on Di Maggio's death. La Russa paralleled the Clipper's passing with the Cardinal Legacy of Musial, Schoendienst, Gibson, Brock, Buck, Smith. He urged this audience to appreciate these people and not just simply acknowledge or recognize them.

The key word is APPRECIATE. Not linger to the past as we have seen with some of the St. Louis Arena lovers, but rather absorb the history and appreciate it.

"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away".

Sooner or later they all will. Wouldn't it be sad if it be too late, before we knew they were taken for granted??