If the normal aches and pains we wake up with  each day aren’t proof enough that we’re getting older, word yesterday that baseball great Joe Morgan had left us at the age of 77 did it for me. As a major league baseball fan growing up in the 1970’s Joe Morgan’s exploits as a member of the Cincinnati Reds Big Red Machine were things that kept me awake late at night listening to Reds games, long after I was supposed to be  asleep.  At a time when the Cleveland Indians it seems were developing players for the New York Yankees, the Reds owned this area and much of Ohio too. Joe Morgan’s stolen bases, home runs and fielding plays earned him first-ballot acceptance in to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. After his playing days had ended Morgan entertained us on Sunday night baseball on ESPN for 21 additional seasons. Joe Morgan was a throw back to another era lost in time to be sure, when most professional athletes made news by the things they did on the field between the lines. That’s the way I see it.