With the passing of the Splendid Splinter a couple of weeks ago, there have been many tributes, specials, etc. honoring his life. He was not only the finest hitter ever to play the game but he also served TWICE in the US Navy as a fighter pilot in between his playing years.

I heard an interesting commentary on APR (Alabama Public Radio) hold the laughter please.... about Ted's being referred to as either a 'Hero' or a 'Legend'. The commentary talked of the word 'legend' once being reserved only for something or someone only imagined or fictional per se, while 'hero' was a used for a real, live, breathing person (or of course a fictional character ala Superman).

The gentleman continued on about the media being responsible for the word 'legend' moving more towards actual people - a movie legend (Garbo), a baseball legend (Williams, Ruth, Mays) - that are both famous and been around for awhile. He also contended that in the last couple of decades and most noticeably since 9/11, that 'hero' is reserved for only those individuals that do great things for mankind. He remarked that this came about as our sports/entertainment 'heros' really became amoral hooligans (more my words than his).

A prime example of the generational usage of the terms was George Dubya and George Jr. The senior Bush referred to Ted Williams as a hero but grew up admiring Williams as a baseball player and they were both Naval pilots - the junior Bush referred to Williams as a baseball legend.