ThinkBlueLA.com is a Dodgers-based website, plain and simple. Our entire staff of talented writers put in a great deal of time, effort, and energy to bringing you the latest news and information about our beloved Dodgers and their Minor League affiliates from a fan’s perspective.

But every now and then, something comes along that isn’t baseball-related, at least not directly, that hits home and affects us on a non-baseball personal level.

This is one of those somethings.

On Monday evening, December 7, 2020, retired Brigadier General Charles Elwood (Chuck) Yeager, the first man to fly an aircraft faster than the speed of sound, died at the age of 97.

When you take into consideration that (then) Captain Yeager was a mere 24 years old on October 14, 1947, when he piloted his Bell X-1 rocket plane 767.269 mph into the ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ to break the sound barrier – something that no man had ever been before – you begin to realize the type of man Chuck Yeager was.

“Sure, I was apprehensive,” Yeager said years later during a 1968 interview. “When you’re fooling around with something you don’t know much about, there has to be apprehension. But you don’t let that affect your job.”

That, in a nutshell, also tells you exactly what type of man Chuck Yeager was.

But Chuck Yeager, a cousin of former Dodgers catcher Steve Yeager, was a lot more than just a test pilot. He was also a huge baseball fan and loved music.

As Dodger fans may recall, General Yeager was the Dodgers’ Military Hero of the Game for Game-1 of the 2017 National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on October 14, 2017, when he threw out the Ceremonial First Pitch. By no coincidence, October 14, 2017, was the 70th anniversary of Chuck Yeager’s historic flight.

But what most Dodger fans are unaware of is that the (then) 94-year-old General had to leave Dodger Stadium immediately after his Ceremonial First Pitch to attend yet another anniversary celebration of his historic flight; this one at Edwards Air Force Base 22 miles northeast of Lancaster, CA – the very location where he made his sound-barrier-breaking flight 70 years earlier in ‘Glamorous Glennis,’ the name he had given his aircraft (named after his first wife).

As you can imagine, that anniversary celebration was top drawer and included a full dinner and live entertainment, which brings us to the real story.

Providing that entertainment was a young singer by the name of Ricky Medlin, who goes by the stage name of ‘Rat Pack Ricky.’ Yep, you guessed it. Rat Pack Ricky’s schtick is performing songs made famous by the original Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. (among others) back in the early 1960s … and he is very good at it.

Shortly after Yeager arrived at Edwards AFB and before Rat Pack Ricky Medlin was scheduled to take the stage, the two had a brief opportunity to meet each other … and it went exactly as you would expect from Chuck Yeager:

Yeager: “Who are you?”

Ricky Medlin: “I’m the entertainment.”

Yeager: “I’ll be the judge of that.”

Yeager was, of course, just toying with the young performer … sort of.

Once “the entertainment” began and during one of his songs, Ricky glanced over at the General’s table and immediately received a thumbs-up from the guest of honor.

“After he did that, I told myself ‘You better not screw-up now,’” Medlin later admitted with a laugh.

Although there are many to this day who still believe that the first footprint on the moon should have been that of Chuck Yeager instead of Neil Armstrong, the fact that Yeager never obtained a college degree is – and forever will be – the reason cited. And while this in no way is intended to take anything away from the 12 Americans who walked on the surface of the moon, it is impossible to argue that Charles Elwood (Chuck) Yeager didn’t have ‘The Right Stuff.’

…and then some

Rest in peace, General Yeager.

…and thank you; just thank you.

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