How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?

Legendary baseball pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige took the mound for the last time in the summer of 1965, pitching three shutout innings before walking off the mound and right into sports history.

Throwing three scoreless innings isn't necessarily remarkable for a major league pitcher, unless you're 60 years old at the time! His pitching feats earned induction into baseball's hall of fame in 1971, but his legendary personality is what history remembers most about the man whose extraordinarily large feet, resemblant of a briefcase, garnered his famous nickname.

"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter," he once said. Always evasive about his real age, his athletic accomplishments overshadowed his age. Reportedly born in 1905, Paige befuddled batters for over five decades, beginning in the negro leagues and finishing his career in 1968, as a coach for the Atlanta Braves.

Now, you're probably asking what baseball has to do with firefighting? Today is my birthday and as I celebrate the start of my 48th year, I'm reminded of Satchel Paige and his carefree attitude about age and the perception of aging.

Parts of this job are a young man's game. Without notice a firefighter can be thrust into a very physically demanding situation under extreme conditions of lethal heat and toxic atmospheres. Never knowing what the bell might serve up at any moment, physical readiness is essential to job performance as well as survival.

The number one killer of firefighters isn't fire, smoke, or building collapse. In 2007, 54 of the reported 115 firefighter deaths across the United States were attributed to cardiac arrest and stroke, according to the United States Fire Administration, a branch of FEMA.

Translated to 47 percent of all firefighter fatalities that year, the grim statistics emphasize the need for firefighters to stay in shape.

As I age, the daily challenge to maintain my physical readiness is a battle against an aging body and a weakening spirit, so I draw inspiration from the ageless words of the great Satchel Paige, "You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them."

I promised my wife that I would always come home after my shift was done. So, today, tomorrow and for every day after, I'll dress; I'll show up and work out to keep myself ready for the rigors of my job. If I can avoid dying under a building collapse, I can avoid dying of a heart attack on the fireground.