He felt that if his career was ending, he couldn't hurt his future by slugging the manager, so he might as well do it and get some satisfaction. I wouldn't tell him not to. I have players look at different angles so they can make choices. I told him a story about a man who bought a newspaper from a surly vendor but wouldn't let the vendor destroy his mood. The athlete cooled off.
Fans can also cause turmoil.
Edmonton rooters tormented a player on the Dodgers' Albuquerque farm team by calling him a slang term for a homosexual. He's an athletic-looking guy with a wife and a young child, just like many of them. Half the Dodgers' major league roster and scores of the 170 players on eight minor league teams have consulted him. Something I can't get out of my mind during a workout. Harding advised Hershiser, whose sons are 5 and 9, to put his problems on a shelf until he has time to deal with them.