The abbreviated story of Rube Waddell in Inning 2 is sad and poignant. With all due respect to Daniel Okrent, I disagree with what he said about Rube. Although he was "eccentric", he certainly was not a sociopath.
shareyeah, seems like this guy was awesome. Imagine how entertaining someone like that would be in today's game? He'd be thrown out of the league in a second, but boy would it be worth it to watch him for even a little while, lol
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Rube Waddell was almost certainly not a sociopath, but he was also almost certainly afflicted with behavior disorders such as autism, personality disorders, or some form of cognitive impairment (which might today be labeled 'retardation'). These problems were also exacerbated by alcohol use.
In any case the actual nature of Waddell's behavior and personality problems would have to be determined by a qualified professional directly observing him. 100 years ago, society was not nearly as understanding or forgiving, so Waddell was called 'eccentric' by some, 'crazy' by others and 'a drunk' by still others.
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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.
Daniel Okrent said a slew of ridiculous things throughout the Ken Burns' Baseball series, and for an editor, he certainly isn't good at editing his own random musings on the sport of baseball and its respective history of colorful characters.
shareI do agree with you regarding Daniel Okrent's "musings". I see that all the commentators were just given free rein to say whatever their musings on the topics of the series. Daniel Okrent showed, in my humble opinion, that he was really full of himself. I still can't get over referring to Rube Waddell as a "sociopath".
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