A Maroon Cartoon

In the otherwise inspiring story of sportsmanship pecunium pointed to recently, there's an unfortunate comment:

"There's NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!"

I replied:

That's a very Hollywood attitude. One usually spouted by people who have never played the game.

Here's what Vin Scully says, who's forgotten more about baseball than you'll ever know:

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(Scully) has seen ball players cry and he knows all the signs of sadness - the haunted looks, the dark circles under the eyes, the slumped figures at the lockers.

``I remember in 1982, Terry Forster giving up the home run to Joe Morgan on the last game of the season,'' Scully says of a game that cost the Dodgers the division title. ``And that hit just ruined him. It broke his heart. Terry was a big, emotional, warm-hearted guy and it just crushed him.''

Three years later, another victim (Tom Niedenfuer, who gave up a series-ending homer to St. Louis Cardinal slugger Jack Clark), another Dodger season ending in tears.

``(Dodger manager) Tommy (Lasorda) was devastated by that,'' Scully says. ``So don't let anyone tell you there's no crying in baseball, especially this time of year.''