Immeasurable Greatness

The truth is we knew it all along.

It was right there on the back of his jersey.

It was right there on the 20-year contract he signed as an 18-year-old in Edmonton.

But only now is it official: Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player of all time will keep his legacy within the boundaries of the 20th century, locked in a time capsule with the old hockey palaces of the Original Six and the 34-year playing career of his boyhood hero, Gordie Howe.

The Great One had to hang up the skates someday, but that was a day few wanted to think about, a date fewer dared predict. But we all knew that day was getting closer. There were NHL players -- including one of his teammates -- who weren't even born when he was their age, winning his first MVP award. And while millions of hockey fans still saw in him the charismatic spirit that made his every movement a joy to watch, he himself was feeling tired -- perhaps for the first time in his life.

The commitment he made, the responsibility he felt and the duty he perceived all had their roots in his earliest years. From his earliest days, he understood that his gifts were to be shared with all those who might marvel at them. In the shadow of his talent he had required himself to be not only humble, but always grateful, and he chose to display this gratitude by embracing the game and its fans. He had signed every autograph, done every interview, posed for every picture. His exhausting role of more than two decades had finally taken its toll. He was, after all, still a human being.

He knew it was his final season, but the "farewell tour" would have gone against everything he ever represented, and it was the one thing he could not do for the fans because for once his own heart wouldn't be in it. He said as much, joking about not wanting to receive "rocking chairs" at every rink he visited. Only he wasn't joking. At age 38 he didn't want the spotlight any more than he had wanted it at age 10 or 16 or 21. All he had ever really wanted was to play hockey. He didn't need any farewell tour to be reminded of that.

It was often said of Wayne Gretzky that he could see things on the ice long before others could. By the time the defense reacted to him, he was already gone. Before his teammates realized they were in position to score, the puck was already on their stick.

In the end, he saw one more thing that caught everyone else off guard. He saw April 18, 1999.

Quietly, on his own terms, he made 1998-99 his farewell season. In the course of 82 games, he gave signed hockey sticks to old friends like Glen Sather and Tampa Bay rookie Vincent Lecavalier. Right to the end, Gretzky believed it better to givthan receive.

He knew exactly what he was doing but never breathed a word of it to the media. He waited until the last possible moment for this, allowing anonymous "unimpeachable sources" to help set the stage for what he had to say. If hockey was going to make a big fuss about him, at least it would be limited to a meaningless regular-season game.

And so the sports world has all of 48 hours to say goodbye to a monumental figure who graced the scene for 20 magnificent years. There are hardly enough words to describe his achievements, fewer still to explain what he meant to hockey.

There aren't many people left who remember seeing Babe Ruth play baseball in his prime. Hearing them recall these memories gives baseball fans a wonderful sense of continuity, a direct link to an almost superhuman figure. This is how it will always be for hockey fans who saw Gretzky play. The memories alone are priceless, and we will only realize their full value years from now as youngsters' eyes light up when we tell them that we saw Wayne Gretzky play.

Gretzky's Ruthian feats are clear to everyone who looks at statistics. But while Ruth's major home run records have been broken, Gretzky's goal and assist marks could conceivably stand forever.

He scored 92 goals in a season and nearly 900 in a career. He had 163 assists in a season and nearly 2,000 in a career. The assists number itself is mind-boggling. When Gretzky arrived in the league, the top two players on the career assists list were Gordie Howe and Stan Mikita. Gretzky enters his final NHL game with only 14 fewer assists than Howe and Mikita's combined total.

Gretzky even had his own version of Ruth's "called shot." It happened while in a game in Edmonton on Dec. 30, 1981. At the time, Gretzky was chasing the NHL record of 50 goals in 50 games. He had scored 45 goals in 38 games, and the "Gretzky Watch" was really heating up. But rather than delay the inevitable, Gretzky went out and scored four goals against the Flyers to reach 49. When the Flyers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker late in the game, Gretzky fired his fifth goal into the empty net.

Gretzky wasn't just the Babe Ruth of hockey. He was the Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Nolan Ryan, too. His version of the DiMaggio hitting streak is the 51-game point-scoring streak of 1983-84. Williams was baseball's last player to hit .400, just as Gretzky is hockey's only player to score 200 points in a season -- a feat he achieved in three consecutive years. And as Ryan remained a strikeout artist late in his career, Gretzky managed to lead the NHL in assists at ages 35 and 36.

These are just some of the numbers. There are also the four Stanley Cups, the 19 All-Star Games, the 61 NHL records, the nine MVP awards. Gretzky's greatness knew no limits. He was and is he best ambassador hockey ever had. And he has left his mark on everyone in the game.

Ask any 10 NHL players under age 25 about their boyhood heroes, and at least nine -- including the Europeans -- will likely mention Gretzky first. He was always a role model, and it is refreshing to know that most of the current NHL stars are striving to follow his example both on and off the ice.

The league's official birthdate is Nov. 22, 1917, but it was truly born again on Oct. 10, 1979, when a skinny, pimply-faced teen-ager from Brantford, Ontario, made his NHL debut in Chicago.

Wayne Gretzky is saying goodbye to the NHL. (AP)

That was also the day Gretzky recorded his first NHL point -- assisting on a goal by Kevin Lowe in a 4-2 loss to Tony Esposito's Blackhawks. Back then we all knew he was going to be a great player given his performance in junior hockey and the old World Hockey Association, but who could have predicted how high he would raise the bar? A quote from coach Sather on Gretzky's page of the 1979-80 media guide offered only the slightest clue:

"I can hardly wait to see what happens when the big guys in the NHL see him," Sather said. "They'll think he's unbelievable just as we do."

It wasn't just the big guys, coach. We all saw him for 20 magical years, and he gave us some memories that will last forever. We will never see his like again -- surely not in our lifetimes -- and now we have only one more chance to watch him play.

Because he inspired so many players and because he left the NHL with new standards of greatness, he will continue to be very much a part hockey for at least another 20 years. As such, April 18, 1999, won't be the day hockey says goodbye to Wayne Gretzky.

It will be the day hockey says thank you.

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