As he circled the bases, fireworks exploded into the night. By the time they were done, he was throwing the ball in the wheat fields with his son. There is only one problem with that, of course. Hobbs was fictional. Not only that, it was his second chance at a happy ending, with Robert Redford sweetening the final pages of Bernard Malamud's more somber novel The Natural.
Real life is more difficult.
Those who find sports the easiest sometimes have the hardest time saying farewell. Players stay too long, they end up in the wrong uniforms and they leave long after their magic. They are caught between fame and fortune and, as Gladys Knight used to say, neither one of them wants to be the first to say goodbye. This seems important today because of the way we have bid adieu to two legends. Wayne Gretzky, who did it right.