George Paterno

In the Busch Memorial Stadium pressbox, amid the steamy swelter that engulfed St. Louis, some visitors literally gasped for air.

"Hi," Jack Buck said, sticking his hand out. "Welcome to St. Louis, sauna capital of the world."

There have been enough tributes to John Francis Buck chronicled since he died a week ago likely to reach from the sun-baked surface to the top of the Arch, some 550 feet above Big Muddy.

But for one failed Little Leaguer who grew up in the Pittsburgh suburbs and New Jersey, Jack Buck's reassuring voice and that of Harry Caray crackled across the plains via 50,000-watt KMOX and painted word pictures that few T.V. camera shots could convey.

He was one of the last of a vanishing breed that includes 84-year-old Ernie Harwell, longtime voice of the Detroit Tigers, Harry Caray, Buck's longtime mikemate and later voice of the Oakland A's, White Sox and Cubs, Bob Prince, the legendary Pirates announcer, Russ "The Giants win the pennant!" Hodges, the Yankees' Mel Allen, and baseball announcer lau- reate Red Barber.

The fact that Jack Buck would greet a traveling schlepper he hardly knew like a long-lost cousin that miserable afternoon in 1988 jumped back at him 14 years later when word that his valiant battle with Parkinson's Disease and a particularly insidious form of skin cancer had been lost.

The site of Joe Buck standing at home plate in Busch Stadium, his teary eyes guarded by sunglasses, standing firm and strong in the wake of tragedy was a keepsake. Jack's son had learned well and had taken the torch from his dad and had continued to make Cards games an event for millions.

The Buck memories and tributes were in mid-flow when Cubs catcher Joe Girardi stepped to a home plate microphone this past Saturday at Wrigley Field, the entire Cubs squad behind him and an ashen Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa, dressed in street clothes nearby, being consoled by home plate umpire Matt Hollowell. "Excuse me," Girardi said, choking back tears and proclaiming the day's game had been postponed "because of a tragedy in the Cardinals family..."

Darryl Kile, 33, dead in a hotel room. A city madly in love with its baseball team like no other in America, left to wonder how and why.

On the field of its archrival, with the typical Cubs-Cards weekend crowd, about 80% wearing Cubbie Blue but with huge splotches of red everywhere, the Cardinals had become one with nearly 40,000 people.

The loss of longtime Penn State color analyst George Paterno would seem unrelated to this, but like Buck, Joe Paterno's younger brother was your classic near-Will Rogers who rarely met a guy he didn't like.

The Northwest Hawk had been particularly nasty to the Nittany Valley that bitter November Saturday in 1987, before the Nittany Lions would rally to beat Lou Holtz's second Notre Dame team 22-21. He handed a total stranger a container of hot chocolate as they awaited the press box elevator.

"This should help," he said. "I remember you from the walk up the steps at Pitt Stadium (three years before). The elevator's better, huh?"

The Paterno smile. Forever etched.

The sports world is well-populated with famous people with the common touch, folks like Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, Mets catcher Mike Piazza, Girardi, New York Rangers broadcaster Sam Rosen, Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, a former Steelers defensive back.

From all reports, Darryl Kile was yet another. Jack Buck was 77, George Paterno 73. Both had lived full, rewarding lives, although the 48-year voice of the Cardinals had suffered terribly in his final months. And Kile, apparently, fell victim to a family genetic history of heart troubles.

It is virtually impossible to connect such events or even to sum up the courage to try.

But in all this, one message seems clear: Cherish your moments as you go through life. Your friends are precious, your family invaluable.

Sometimes, in life, we get into a mental auto-pilot mode, taking our blessings totally for granted, rarely stopping to savor the moment.

Maybe in all this, that's God's simple message:

Don't you.