When I first came up Casey said

I would be the greatest ever,

some combination of Ruth, DiMaggio, Cobb, etc.;

I didn't quite live up to that

Near the end of my life I joked

that if I had known I was going to live that long,

I would have taken better care of myself;

if I had I might have lived up to Casey's evaluation

You probably know that 'not taking care of myself

is a euphemism for abusing alcohol

I finally realized I had a problem

and spoke about it, warning others;

some people considered my doing so heroic

I don't know about that;

I had been called a hero for most of my life

If I was now at last a real hero,

I was a deeply flawed one:

definitely not a role model,

more of a cautionary tale