Bathroom reading trivia quiz

[Guest iramets]

I took Joe Morgan's autobio into the throne room this morning for some light recreational reading, and found a somewhat disturbing anecdote. When Joe was a Astro first time around in the sixties, he was pals with Rusty Staub, who took Joe golfing at a private country club until one day Rusty's club members forbade him from inviting guests of Joe's complexion.

At this point, what do you think ensued?

1) Rusty held a press conference to announce his resignation from the club, and created a public issue about whites-only clubs that had a serious and lasting effect on Houston's civic codes

2) Rusty resigned quietly from the club, never said why he was resigning, which angered Joe and they stopped being close friends.

3) Rusty remained a club member, but worked to change the membership's restrictions, and Joe eventually became a club member.

4) Rusty remained a club member, didn't say boo privately or publicly, and Joe continued being Rusty's close friend anyway.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, disturbing=(4).

[Guest iramets]

Kinda gave it away there, didn't I?

Yes. The anecdote as told is spooky, and doesn't really speak that well of either man's character, except as far as Joe might have been stifling his outrage, and his disappointment in Rusty, for the sake of team unity on the Astros.

[soupcan]

I didn't read the book but as bad as it sounds - remember both guys were in their early 20's, probably relatively unknown players. Morgan grew up in Texas and was most likely very aware of the prevailing attitudes in that part of the country which was not exactly known for it''s liberal thinking in terms of racial equality. Maybe he even expected what was coming.

Staub, while being from, I suppose, a more liberal area in New Orleans also must have known what an undertaking it would've been to buck the trend in the Deep South at that time.

Yes, it would have been very easy for Rusty to simply resign.

Not excusing just giving them both a little slack.

[DocTee]

I thought Morgan was from Oakland? I know he went to High School there, at least.

[Frayed Knot]

The Texas-born Morgan did most of his growing up in the Oakland area.
Not sure from exactly what age.

[Guest Edgy DC]

This (not this specifically, but this sort of thing) is part of what I think has made Morgan such a maniac when it comes to progressive thinking regarding the game. He came of age in a progressive era, was (by most accounts) initially a brash young man. He nonetheless realized his supreme talents weren't taking him as far as they could, humbled himself, and placed the interests of the team and the game ahead of his own.

From the age of 25, he makes himself perhaps the best secondbaseman ever. And then he retires and finds some unathletic outsider recluse like Bill James and an army of dorks behind him are challenging the culture of the game. The same culture that he subimated his youthful passion to be a part of, perhaps doing things like taking on the chin from a racist country club (probably where nobody could golf as well as him), and not challenging (and embarrassing) his teammate to go to bat publickly for hiim.

And these sliderule geeks get to shake the game's culture up?

Morgan's maybe like a next-generation version of a good soldier from World War II who watched his friends get blown up under the command of officers who were sometimes fine men and sometimes jackasses, but he realized that the cause was greater than particular issues he had and fought on nobly. Then he sees the Vietnam-era kids growing their hair and burning their draft cards, and he can't cope. He's slammed with cognitive dissonance, and he's not interested in hearing the particulars of the issue.

Just a scenario. I'm not sure I'm married to it. But Morgan is a fascinating character study (though I haven't read his book on my toilet), though not as fascinating to me as John Denver.

[Guest iramets]

Edgy DC wrote: I haven't read his book on my toilet.

I'd offer to lend you my copy but I'm not sure how welcome a gesture that would be. It's been flagged.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I think that's a pretty good theory on Joe.

[soupcan]

DocTee wrote: I thought Morgan was from Oakland? I know he went to High School there, at least.

I just knew his was born in Texas and assumed he'd grown up there. My bad.

I also like Edgy's theory on Morgan.

[Guest iramets]

soupcan wrote: I also like Edgy's theory on Morgan.

i do too, though I'm not sure it's James and his army of dorks (band name!) that Morgan really has his issues with.

I mean, they're the ones who make him out to be a world-class 2b man, even when he's lost a step and eighty points off his BA and 150 points off his SA. And they're hardly arguing that winning ballgames isn't the ultimate measure of a player, which is Morgan's main thesis as well.

[Guest Edgy DC]

But it is James, among others. And --- to Morgan's credit, I guess --- he head-scratichingly rejects the notion of his superiority. Again, he's placing the game ahead of himself, even when he is unjustifiably dimininishing himself.

See here. You can scroll down to "Jon Miller remembers..." but the whole article is fascinating.

[Centerfield]

I just noticed I'm quoted in Ira's signature. Cool. At least, I think it's cool. I'm not being mocked am I?

[Guest iramets]

Centerfield wrote: I'm not being mocked am I?

Never.

That's my credo.

I'm still trying to figure out how, when you assert that credo, you get daisies tossed at you, and when I assert it, I get bricks, but as long as I can include that in my posts attributed to you, I'm safe.

[Guest iramets]

="Edgy DC"] the whole article is fascinating.

Best article on baseball I've read since I-don't-know-when.

My only question is: Has Joe Morgan read Moneyball, or has he not read it?

[MFS62]

As I may have mentioned here before, Joe is listed as the author of the book "Baseball for Dummies". At the time, I said it must be autobiographical.

I can't understand how a man who says he is against racial injustice, labels and insults can repeatedly use a slur that insults those less fortunate than himself - the disabled.

I'll climb down off my soapbox now, so the thread can continue.

Later

[DocTee]

Morgan has publicly stated that he has not--and has no interest in--reading Moneyball.

I recall seeing this on: www.firejoemorgan.com

[Guest iramets]

DocTee wrote: Morgan has publicly stated that he has not--and has no interest in--reading Moneyball. I recall seeing this on: www.firejoemorgan.com

Sorry, I was being sarcastic. The article Edgy linked to uses, as a kind of leitmotif, the recurring information that Joe Morgan (despite his intense criticism of MONEYBALL) has not, and will not, read the book.