A True Role Model

Johannes Peter Wagner is considered to be one of the best to ever to play Major League Baseball. He was a short stop who:
  • won eight batting titles in the National League
  • lead the National League in RBI and stolen bases five times

A career .329 hitter with 722 stolen bases. He was also known for his defensive skills. Now that's pretty good. Don't you agree?

The reason why I am writing about "The Flying Dutchman" aka Honus Wagner is that his baseball card got sold couple of days ago for $2.35 million. Wow!!! That's alot money. Why is it so expensive? In the early 20th century, tobacco companies had baseball cards in their tobacco products. After a few months in the store, Honus Wagner asked the tobacco company to ban his baseball cards since he felt that baseball cards in tobacco products encouraged kids to buy tobacco and smoke. That is truly remarkable since he did the "moral" thing. Unlike today where star baseball players shoot themselves with steroids and charge money for their autographs, Honus Wagner was one a kind. A true role model.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Eulogy for my grandmother

Image
On Saturday July 16th, 2011, I gave a eulogy for my grandmother.  Here is the text of the eulogy: Today I am honored and humbled to talk about my grandmother.  She was a constant presence in my life. From the time I lived with her and her family (while my parents worked in the Middle East) to the time she spent some time with my wife Michelle and me. I could count her for sound advice, an understanding heart and wisdom of ages.  Her walk with the Lord was admirable and the fear of the Lord visible. Couple of days before she passed away, I spent some time with her and I saw a side of her which I hadn't seen before.  She was a fighter and a person how never gave up. It makes sense now this fighting spirit helped her raise her children into god fearing individuals, parents and grandparents.  As my uncle stated a few days ago, imagine if she wasn't a fighter where would the kids be. Where would I be? I close now by saying this: I realize I will see her again but till then I
Read more

Kashmiri memories

Image
In the mid-80s,  my parents, my brother and I visited Srinagar in Kashmir, India. We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast houseboat on the Dal Lake.  I remember beauty, meeting merchants who sold saffron and wild honey .  The other remarkable thing is that the local police had beards, which were not seen in the rest of India.  I also saw locals carry their Kangers.  Kangers are woven baskets that have hot embers that are carried by folks under a Kashmiri robe called a Pheran . My trip to Kashmir was a unique experience because it was my first trip to a Muslim-dominant India where the customs were different from the majority of secure India.  It reminded me of Old Delhi, which is predominantly of Muslim Indians. While I was in Srinagar, there was a sense of uneasiness due to the political turmoil.  I am not sure if my family and I had a bias that Kashmir is trouble and we need to be extra cautious.  The local Kashmiri folks were great.  As a cricket fan, I was surprised to see a lot of cricke
Read more

Looking Overseas and Beyond

Image
Rather than go to the Lord's Supper, today I stayed home today since my daughter Tabitha has been sick with a cough and a high fever. I realized that with four small kids that I don't have time to socialize with my friends nor do activities with my wife. With four kids, my life revolves around work, commuting (4-5 hours a day) and spending time with my family. It's been good to get a break during the Christmas and just relax. We are planning to go South Carolina for a church conference next week. As far as work is concerned, I am open to job close by my house. If that doesn't pan, I am considering getting a job at the UN and work in Europe (Austria, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, UK and others) or South America (Mexico, Brazil) for a few years and expose my family to the international life. I was blessed when I was kid to have seen different cultures and lifestyles and those experiences have helped me in my life. According to some of my co-workers, FAA has to take y
Read more