Wondering what others think about this story

[Daniel]

I was always fascinated by the story of Eric Show, who was a pitcher for the San Diego Padres back in the 1980s. I got really, really into baseball when I was five, and I'm fascinated by the human drama behind the action on the field.

He died in 1994 at the age of 37 in a drug rehab clinic. After I started identifying as an Aspie, I revisited his story, and I noticed a lot of things about him that made it sound like he could have been on the spectrum. I know it's impossible and often unproductive to go back and try to diagnose someone based on third-person accounts, but I'm curious to see what others think of his story.

This is a story ESPN did on him in 2010: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5543839. They pin down his problems on his overbearing father.

What stood out to me were his intense interests (in the guitar, physics, astronomy, right-wing politics), his penchant for intense debates, how he rubbed his teammates the wrong way, and how he did things and seemed to not care or notice how other saw him. His most notorious incident came in 1985, when he gave up the base hit to Pete Rose that broke Ty Cobb's career record for hits. They stopped the game for celebrations, and he got so uncomfortable with the situation that he sat down on the pitcher's mound to wait for it to be over. In baseball etiquette, that's really bad.

I know it's a moot point now, but if anyone's curious, it's an interesting story about a tortured soul. (Or maybe it's just interesting to me! Quite possible.)

 

[mama_lotus]

Interesting. I will research him some time. One of my special interests is Marilyn Monroe and I wonder the same of her. Perhaps we Aspies can sniff out other Aspies.

ETA: Look! You joined 12-12-12. Cool.

 

[Judge]

One of my special interests is Marilyn Monroe and I wonder the same of her.

Marilyn's preserved private bungalow at the Cal Neva Resort, Crystal Bay Nevada. I'm guessing you know about Marilyn's time here.

 

[Daniel]

ETA: Look! You joined 12-12-12. Cool.

Oh wow--I can't believe I never noticed that before! That's awesome!

 

[mama_lotus]

Marilyn's preserved private bungalow at the Cal Neva Resort, Crystal Bay Nevada. I'm guessing you know about Marilyn's time here.

I do. I've only seen that house in b&w pics, though, surprisingly. Thanks

 

[mama_lotus]

Yep. I like dates That's also my son's birthday. And Frank Sinatra's.

I read the site you posted about Eric Show. Poor guy. He had a crappy crappy childhood. You're right - being "condescending," "eccentric" "not a team player" and "weird" are all kinda hallmarks. My feeling is NTs have an easier time compartmentalizing their quirks. I bet you're right.

Found this, maybe it is interesting to you. Autism Dad: Opening Day | Autism Dad

 

[Judge]

I do. I've only seen that house in b&w pics, though, surprisingly. Thanks

Here's what they look like inside. This was Frank's bungalow a few doors down.
Not particularly lavish for these folks...but the scenery outside is wonderful.

 

[Daniel]

Yep. I like dates That's also my son's birthday. And Frank Sinatra's.

I read the site you posted about Eric Show. Poor guy. He had a crappy crappy childhood. You're right - being "condescending," "eccentric" "not a team player" and "weird" are all kinda hallmarks. My feeling is NTs have an easier time compartmentalizing their quirks. I bet you're right.

Found this, maybe it is interesting to you. Autism Dad: Opening Day | Autism Dad

Thank you for that link - that was beautiful and haunting! I was moved.

 

[Flinty]

I was wondering who I was mixing up with Dave Dravecky - this is the guy. So sad.

I've always thought that if there was a ballplayer with ASD, it was Wade Boggs. For those who don't know, he had to do his pre-game routine at the same time every day, after his pre-game meal of chicken. Infield practice was always exactly 117 balls. Things like that.

There was also Rickey Henderson, who definitely isn't NT, but I'm not sure exactly how he isn't.

 

[Daniel]

I was wondering who I was mixing up with Dave Dravecky - this is the guy. So sad.

I've always thought that if there was a ballplayer with ASD, it was Wade Boggs. For those who don't know, he had to do his pre-game routine at the same time every day, after his pre-game meal of chicken. Infield practice was always exactly 117 balls. Things like that.

There was also Rickey Henderson, who definitely isn't NT, but I'm not sure exactly how he isn't.

Interesting... Somewhere I have a copy of Wade Boggs' book, The Techniques of Modern Hitting. He talked about his pre-game routines. He explained how every component of his warm-up routines had to start on a minute ending with seven, and he was all about lucky number seven. Hence the 117 balls. He liked chicken because of how light it felt in his stomach, so that's why it had to be chicken.

He described it as being superstitious, others described as being obsessive-compulsive! I think he wrote that the practical value of routines is that you establish good habits that way. As opposed to a guy like Cal Ripken, who tinkered with his batting stance as often as the weather changed. Whatever works for you! I'd be interested to know more about Boggs' personality to see what other signs were there.

I just found this great list of Rickey Henderson stories:
It’s Rickey Henderson’s 55th birthday: here are 25 stories that may or may not be true | The Province

He's definitely not cut from typical cloth! Rickey being Rickey. I love stories about Bobo Newsom, who used to refer to himself and everyone else as "Bobo". That made for some interesting quotes.

I read somewhere that Steve Carlton was suspected to be an Aspie because of his disdain for chatting with the press, who nicknamed him "Silent Steve". The explanation on Wikipedia: "The media's open questioning of his unusual training techniques led to an acrimonious relationship between them and Carlton, and he severed all ties with the media, refusing to answer press questions for the rest of his career with the Phillies." He used martial arts techniques, and introduced the exercise of twisting his pitching arm down to the bottom of a barrel of rice.

At one point he said, "And the irony is that they wrote better without access to my quotes."

I like to remind myself -- doing things like everyone else is a great way to end up in the middle!

 

[Daniel]

Interesting. I will research him some time. One of my special interests is Marilyn Monroe and I wonder the same of her. Perhaps we Aspies can sniff out other Aspies.

I just searched for "marilyn monroe personality", and a whole bunch of stuff came up. I'm intrigued...

mama_lotus, have you found any articles/stories about Marilyn/Norma Jean that are particularly illuminating?