Monday, January 18, 2010

Martin Luther King Column Gone Awry

Have you ever spent a bunch of time looking for something without finding much? For example, you searched through every pair of pants you own along with your shirts, jackets, coats, purses and others and could only come up with a few pennies and maybe a nickel? Yeah, that's what this post is like. This post was supposed to be some kind of fun tribute to Martin Luther King for his holiday. The only trouble is, the search was basically fruitless.

For example, after a bleary-eyed search, only one player in major league history has ever shared the MLK initials? What was he? The immortal, one and only, Matt (Matthew Lon) Keough. You might remember him. He pitched for the A's, Yankees, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Cubs and Astros between 1977 and 1986. He was actually a very good pitcher when he first came up. He had a big year for the A's in 1980. But he had the misfortune of playing for Billy Martin, who didn't believe in limiting young pitchers. Keough was in his early playing days and Martin left him out there for 250+ innings. He was never the same pitcher again.

Another example? There were seventeen "King" major leaguers in history: Chick, Clyde, Curtis, Eric, Hal, Jeff, Jim, Kevin, Lee, Lee, Lynn, Mart, Nellie, Ray, Sam, Silver and Steve. You may remember Ray or Jeff and maybe even Eric, all three played not that long ago. That Mart King was indeed a Martin King. He played one season: 1876! Whoa, that was a long time ago.

So...the Fan's attempt to bring you an entertaining post to help celebrate the day has fallen short. But remember the man today anyway. Not because he was perfect. He wasn't. Not because he was famous. Not because he was assassinated. No, remember what he fought for and how we can teach our children to get closer to his dream. Remember one of the greatest orations of modern times (look for it on YouTube--it's worth listening to all these years later). His cause was right and just. His message pure and clear and just as important today as it was then.

2 comments:

bobook said...

Here, here, Wm.
He lived to a greater faith and spoke of things to which we must all aspire.

Billy the Kid said...

I am ashamed to admit that until today I had never listened to his whole speech.

I am not ashamed to say that even 47 years later it has the power to inspire and lift up the soul. I was literally moved to tears.

We have made great strides in equality, but even as a white man, I can clearly still see room for improvement.

Remember this man today on his holiday, but keep his message to heart all the days of your life.