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By Bob Trumpbour
For the Mirror
When I was 11 years old, my mom took me to a New Jersey mall to meet Tom Seaver, then a star pitcher for the New York Mets.
I still have the autographed ball that he signed on that day, and I still vividly remember the very brief conversation I had with him.
He became a hero to me as a youngster.
Unfortunately, Seaver is one of many outstanding ballplayers who passed away in the last 18 months.
A friend told me that more Hall of Famers have died during that period than in any similar span before. I suspect that he is accurate.
Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro, and Don Sutton are just a few of the many baseball legends who have passed away recently.
Aaron, in particular, was a very special individual who, like Seaver, I considered heroic.
While working for CBS many years ago, I was very fortunate to spend a few days with him.
His quiet, understated dignity made him someone who deserved immense respect in light of some of the inexcusable bigotry that he faced as a ballplayer.
Some talented players not in the Hall of Fame have passed away recently, too.
Among them are former Pirates Grant Jackson and Rene Stennett.
Jackson and Stennett both won World Series championships in Pittsburgh.
Jackson was the winning pitcher in game 7 against the Orioles in 1979, and Stennett, although overshadowed by Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell, had a solid infield presence while in Pittsburgh.
He remains the only major leaguer ever to go 7-for-7 in a single game.
When asked about the recent loss of so many baseball legends, former Pirates manager Clint Hurdle lamented that these baseball heroes were "being taken away" from us, yet he indicated how fortunate he was to compete against and get to know so many of them.
On a personal note, for the first year in over a decade, none of my sons are playing organized baseball. As they have grown up, that was bound to happen.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that something has changed over the generations in terms of sports heroes.
The ability to get a star ballplayer's autograph has diminished, as has the stature of many present-day athletes.
My sons were less prone to look up to ballplayers as heroes when they were playing baseball.
I think the current distance between modern athletes and the public is an understandable part of that dynamic.
Just as my sons have a different vision of who ought to be a hero, over the years I have recalibrated what I think ought to qualify as heroic.
While the athletes still command respect for their achievements, today's heroes are often found in daily life, not in a stadium or arena.
Consider those whose daily courage and integrity make our world a better place.
It is the honest and reliable first responders, health care workers, community volunteers, and so many others who step up to do extraordinary and sometimes very ordinary things that help our community to thrive.
They are the individuals who resist the urge to be mere spectators in life.
Even though I still value the memories I have of the sports heroes from my youth, people who commit to helping others through their thoughtful and meaningful actions are today's real-world heroes.
Trumpbour is a professor of communications at Penn State Altoona. He authored the book, "The New Cathedrals, politics and media in the history of stadium construction."