What Shin Soo Choo could have in common with Bob Feller and Ted Williams

Dr. Cho came in and discussed his life in coming to America and learning about our sport of football and one of the things he mentioned was his time in service for the Korean Army, which South Korean men all have an obligation to serve a certain amount of time in the armed forces.  Of course with most of the class being Cleveland Indians fans, the fact that Shin Soo Choo may have to leave baseball for a couple seasons to fulfill his obligation as a South Korean citizen came up and it made me think, what if he does leave?  I am not an Indians fan, but one would assume that all Tribe fans would be highly upset with the fact that their best player left to go serve in the military.  People would be angry, but why?  In today’s world, sports bring people together and wars set them apart, but fighting for your country and being apart of something greater than yourself is one of the most important things in life.  Choo would probably be given a desk job as his service, but he would be doing his part to his country.  All this reminded me of World War II and the countess number of professional baseball players that left to go fight for something bigger than themselves.  It was not just minor leaguers and bench players that left, but future Hall of Famers how left in the peak of their careers.  Players like Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, and Ted Williams all left in the middle of their future Hall of Fame careers to serve in the military for the United States.  They realized that as great as baseball was and as great as they were, that there was something better and that is something that almost no one in sports sees anymore and minus the late Pat Tillman, there is not going to be a lot of star athletes that leave to be apart of something more.