Legal Commentary

Hey, it's a slow Saturday morning. This idea comes from several recent cultural releases: The Beatles music coming available on iTunes (I was listening to Sgt. Pepper while running this morning); an old documentary about the Beatles that TiVo found for us; the recent 30th anniversary of Lennon's murder; and the well-received new documentary Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, which features an interview with Koufax (who agreed to appear in the film only when convinced that the story of the Jewish-American love affair with baseball cannot be told without him).

The link? Both are regarded, by many, as the greatest ever at what they did (rock group, left-handed pitcher). Both enjoyed relatively short careers marked by dominance (the Beatles run from 1962-70, Koufax from 1961-66). And both then disappeared overnight* for somewhat analogous reasons (Koufax's body no longer worked, the Beatles no longer could work together--and I'll leave out Yoko).

So to what extent have both endured in our minds because their careers were, relatively speaking, like comets. We never saw Koufax struggling as a 35-year-old who had lost something off his fastball. We never heard the inevitable mediocre Beatles album without a single that could capture the public's ear. We never saw them trying unsuccessfully to adjust to new musical tastes. We never saw them as 65-year-olds, voices shot and bodies ravaged by years of drug use, still trying to strut around the stage (of, course, the Beatles stopped touring for the last four years together, so this may not be fair). And the arguments that either was not the greatest ever always zero-in on that lack of longevity--Koufax did not last as long as Randy Johnson, the Beatles did not last as long as U2.

What we have for both are memories of a relatively fleeting period. And good things get better in our memories over time when there is nothing new or recent to affect that memory.

Anyway, just a thought. OK, back to real work.

    ^* Putting aside whatever the former Beatles did as solo artists or members of other groups, some of which was terrific, some not so much. And put aside the question of if there would have been a reunion (and how many) had Lennon not been killed.