A good read about Eric Show from ESPN

I don't think he said that.

 

Rose was complaining about the pitchers (Gene Garber?) throwing breaking pitches, rather than fastballs.

 

It was Larry McWilliams and Garber, and they were throwing off-speed pitches. Hitters always think pitchers should "challenge the hitter" by throwing fastballs. If a pitcher has an average or below average fastball -- like those two did -- it's a losing proposition.

They <i>did</i> challenge Rose by throwing the offspeed pitches. But hitters never see it that way. They think it should always be muscle vs. muscle. That's common in baseball, not unique to Rose.

 

Very good story.
Anybody else think Friend kind of bent over backward to soft-peddle the John Birch Society business? I'm not sure you just stumble naively into becoming a Bircher.

 

Yeah, I fail to see how giving up an opposite-field single in the first inning of a meaningless September game makes anyone a "goat." (which is a word Friend used in the story)

 

Correct. It doesn't rise to the level of Donnie Moore, which seems to be the suggestion Friend is trying to make.

 

I think people like stories like this because we don't often find stories about athletes with mental instability that get this close to the heart of the matter. It's usually so hard to get such things sourced and to get this level of honesty and depth in your quotes, etc.

But the fear and internal conflict you see every day in the locker room (or at least most days, depending on who you're paying attention to) tell more truth than can often be substantiated and printed.