Hannibal Courier-Post: Genetti: Gone, but not forgotten

Celebrating Jake Beckley’s birthday…as only the locals can.

So with a decorative wreath from a Hannibal flower shop, I stopped and wished the local baseball hero a happy birthday.

I wonder what an early ballplayer like Beckley would think of the game today? What would he have to say about these enormous ballparks that can hold more people than there are in his hometown of Hannibal? The color barrier was broken long after he died. I’m curious what he would have to say about such a diverse group of men playing baseball today. The business of the game has also changed drastically since the early 1900s when Beckley was in the heyday of his career. I wonder what “Old Eagle Eye,” the nickname he earned, would think about free agency and the big deals players make today?

We’ll never know.

Still, it’s best to pay our respects to folks, especially if they have significance in our pastime, our hometown and our history.

Happy Birthday, Jake.