I had spent years doing all of the research on Mr. Stratton I could find. I knew that he lived and died in Texas. I discovered that after losing his leg, he went back to coach for the White Sox, and that he had actually pitched for a while for a minor league team. Outside of that, I knew nothing.

Then, one day, I "hit gold." I found Mr. Stratton's son, and about three years ago, I called him one day on my way to work, and surprised him completely. I identified myself as someone that had always followed his dad, and that he had always been an inspiration to me. To this day, I wish that I had been able to write down/tape what he had told me, but, since I was driving, I was unable to really record much.

Here is what I found out. One main difference in his life, and in the movie, was that Mr. Stratton had tripped his revolver in his pants had went off, rather than his rifle that had been shown in the movie. However, the wound was still the same, and his leg did have to be amputated.

Mr. Stratton did not have a depression period as in the movie, but, almost immediately, "pulled himself up by his bootstraps," and started to make a life for him. This fact made me indeared to him even further, because the traces of "The Greatest American Generation" came out, and were showed, yet again.

Mr. Stratton, after being a lifetime smoker, was told in 1979 that the smoking was killing him, and that he had six months to live as a result. Mr. Stratton put the cigarettes down that day, and lived for three more years.

Apparently, he was very generous, becuase I found an article not too long ago that said that he and Mrs. Stratton had donated land to a local charity.

In the game that was protrayed in The Stratton Story, he was actually much better. On his return game, after being away for a period of time, he pitched a complete shut-out, and if memory serves me correctly, only game up one run.

This fine man serves as an inspiration for us all today. May we look at him, and learn, that despite all that goes against us, we can "rise up," and succeed.

Since the first time I watched this movie, Mr. Stratton, to me, was a personal hero. There are many reasons for that, and maybe some of them came from a romanticized version of him, but, let me go into one or two here.

First, he overcame all odds, not just once, not just twice, but, several times. To start in the movie, he was in backwoods Texas, far removed from civilization and the media. However, not only did he get in his mind "he could do it," but, he cross-country hitchhiked just for a try-out. In this day and age, that simply is not done. That kind of determination and zeal is not too common today. However, he knew what he wanted, and he accomplished it.

Secondly, and one of the main reasons, is that even though he temporarily lost hope after losing his leg, he did not forever sink into an unbreakable bondage. After a while, he "pulled himself up by his bootstraps" and not only survived, but, thrived. Just the thought that he'd just run the family farm again was great, but, he went back to his passion, and did a great job and work there.

For many of my readers, they may not be familiar with an expression, but, that expression is perfectly acted out in this story. The generation of people in the Depression, and more specifically, the World War II era, was known as "The Greatest American Generation." It has been postulated, talked about, written about, and focused on for so long that that generation overcame more odds, accomplished more, and survived more, than any other generation in recent memory.

I think the strength, resolve, hard work, and integrity demonstrated by Mr. Stratton in this story is a fine, outstanding example why the WWII generation needs to be placed up a pedestal. We have truly been blessed to have come from that lineage.

In my next blog, I will tell about the REAL Mr. Stratton, and how I finally got the closest to my childhood hero I ever was, about 3 years ago.

Thank you.

A personal hero of mine

From my initial time of seeing the movie The Stratton Story 20 or so years ago, I was immediately caught in a lot of respect for Monty Stratton. In fact, every time this movie came on, I did my best to watch it. Later on, I recorded it on VHS, and, two years ago, purchased the DVD version. It, to this day, remains one of my most favorite films of all time.

The movie was based upon a real story about a baseball player in the 1930s. In this movie, Monty was a small time, part time baseball pitcher for a local team, who was discovered by a former baseball playing transient. After seeing Monty, this good hearted, but, down on his luck transient, does his best to train the boy to be a major league ball player. After moving onto the farm where Monty worked, and working with him all winter long in baseball coaching and the chores of the farm, the guys leave for a cross country travel/hike/hitchhiking experience to spring training with the Chicago White Sox.

After getting there, he briefly discovers that he was not the first ballplayer that the transient tried to bring on, but, since he had talent, that fact was ignored. In the film, his fastball got him a second chance, and a tryout. Later on in this portion of the film, he finds a coin-slot machine that Monty, being from rural Texas, thinks is just a "magic machine." He wins a small fortune. Shortly after that, he is asked by a complete stranger to join him a blind double date, which turns out to be his future wife.

Monty quickly rises up to Major League-dom, but, quickly gets sent back to the minors for more training and coaching. After a while of training and re-proving himself, he is sent back up to the majors to face the one opponent that sent him down to the minors, The New York Yankees. In this game, however, Monty not only pitches a beauty of a shut-out, he also bats in the winning run.

Time passes in the movie, they have a son, Monty Junior, and continue to do well. Monty gives the appearance of being a bigger star than he actually is, by saying that he is consistently be asked to give interviews, but, in reality, is learning dancing to impress his wife, Ethel.

Anyway, they go home for the off-season to do the farm work in the family farm in Texas. While home, he has an accident with a shot gun during a rabbit hunt, and due to this accident, has to go into the hospital where Ethel, his very sad wife, has to make the very hard decision to amputate his legs. The doctor presents one option "His leg or his life," to which she replies, "His legs are his life."

Shortly after that, Monty returns home to a time of depression, anger, and solitude. During this time, he rejects all attempts by family and fans to reach out to him, and continues to sink deeper and deeper into complete misery. After a short time of moping, he has a heart to heart with his wife, and shortly after that, surprises all by putting on his artificial leg and taking his son for a walk. It almost brings one to tears seeing them both learning how to walk, going down the path, holding hands.

Anyway, as the film progresses, Monty starts to work again around the family farm. During one day, they find a baseball, and he and his wife start to play catch. That completely re-invigorates him, and he starts to play catch with his wife every day. After she refuses to play any more with him, he starts to play catch with his dog and a wash-basin on the wall.

Soon after that, Monty gets a visit from the transient who helped propel him to stardom, who, thanks to Monty, has received an important position with the Chicago White Sox himself. It just happend to happen that during this man's visit, Monty receives 4 tickets and an invitation of a ball game himself. He takes his family with him.

While just getting to the game, Monty leaves, under the pretense of going to say "hi" to the players in the locker room, but, after he gets back there, he starts to "suit up," and in other words, play. He felt it was time, so, he asked to play in this very important game.

One can feel the sense of satisfaction and self-accomplishment as Monty walks out on the field to start to pitch this life-altering game. Right before he enters the field, his wife finds out he is going to pitch, and runs back stage to at first stop, then encourage, her husband.

Monty starts the game with a rough start, giving up a run and several hits. After a while, he gets it under control and pitches the entire game. In his first-at bat, he made a hit, but, tripped on his artificial leg on his way to first base. On the second one(in the movie,) he was able to make it to first(in the movie, a runner could be inserted after he got to first.) He also knocked in the two runs necessary to win the game.

This movie is nothing but excellent. In my future posts, I am going to talk about the inspiration Mr. Stratton was, and also, some similarities and differences to the story of the real Mr. Stratton.