The life and times of Eric Show
Posted by Andy on September 10, 2010
As if ESPN.com needs us to link to them....but anyway they have a beautifully-written piece up about Eric Show, the man who surrendered Pete Rose's record-breaking hit and eventually died from a drug overdose.
My view of Show is that he was largely misunderstood. The part of the story about him sitting on the mound during the Rose celebration is a great example.
Show's story is a tough one to hear. Hard drugs are a terrible thing--we note Show's situation because he was a famous athlete and he died from them. We must remember that millions of other folks have suffered and continue to suffer from their effects, and these are folks who, as our fellow human beings, deserve our help.
September 10th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I read the whole article from beginning to end. Absorbing, mesmerizing,..... thank you for the link. I don't know what to say about the waste of Eric Show's talent compared to what might been. It must have been a bummer for a free spirit like Eric to try to pitch for a straight arrow manager like Dick Williams.
September 10th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I know that we often talk about the upper echelon guys on this site (with the various HOF polls, etc.), but there is something to be said for guys with roughly average career ERA+ (98-102) with 100 wins and a plus-.500 winning %. Unfortunately, he had a rough post-season in 1984, but Show had a nice career.
September 10th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Just read this entire article at work and it brought a tear to my eye. I never even knew who this guy was.
September 10th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Actually, ESPN does need you to link to them. Or maybe I just do.
My relationship with ESPN the past few months has been typing "sports" into the address bar in Firefox, watching The Sports Guy pop up, clicking on it, seeing if there is something new. If so, I read that and then I'm done with ESPN.
I used to look at ESPN's MLB coverage every so often, but I stopped for several reasons:
- They have a lot of hack writers that think sabermetric analysis is an attempt by unscrupulous writers and fans to confuse other fans.
- I get sick of reading a promising headline only to be rebuffed by ESPN Insider. Oddly, I never took advantage of ESPN Insider when I was an ESPN the Magazine subscriber.
- ESPN seems to do as good a job creating news as covering it.
- I have a habit of reading article comments and being pimp-slapped by the stupidity of the posters.
- Partially unrelated but true: While Sports Guy is great, the rest of Page 2 is awful.
Come to think of it, though, I miss that one column with all the odd stats in it via Elias. And, though I haven't read your linked story yet, I miss stuff like that. They have a few people there who know how to craft a story. I think they hired them accidentally.
So, in closing, while your mention of ESPN led to my knee-jerk reaction of bleating about how terrible they are, it in fact reminded me of the few things I like about that site and that maybe I should get over there more often.
Thanks, Andy.
September 10th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
What's the most tragically poignant about all of this is that it turns out that Show didn't, in fact, give up the record-breaking hit. Cobb had two hits taken away and stands at 4,189, so it was really #4,190 that broke his mark, not #4,192.
Had that information been unearthed earlier, maybe Show wouldn't have been under that pressure. Maybe Hoyt would have given it up instead.
September 10th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I might be counting wrong, but I think #4,190 was against Reggie Patterson (who?) of the Cubs.
September 10th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Gossage and Dawson sound like pricks
September 10th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Rose's record-breaking hit off Reggie Patterson happened in a game that ended in a tie.
September 10th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
@4
Fireworks, an amusing anti-ESPN rant.
"- ESPN seems to do as good a job creating news as covering it."
Do the initials CNN come to mind? But we digress......
The sentiment I pick up in here is that there a baseball establishment (Murray Chass, the NY Times, ESPN, HOF voters) and there are sabermetric mavericks. Seems to be a struggle for influence ... or power.
@5
Dan, pardon my ignorance, but when and why did Cobb have two hits taken away? It is interesting to speculate, given Eric Show's fragile self-esteem, what might have happened if he hadn't been tagged for Rose's record-breaking hit.
September 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
I remember when Show hit Dawson. My reaction was that Dawson was a "diver" who had zero chance of getting out of the way of a high inside fastball that sailed. I never thought it was on purpose.
September 10th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
PS- Like #4, I am equally annoyed with the ESPN storys that are for Insider only. But I do look at ESPN every day, and actually read this article on their site first.
September 10th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Sad story. Drugs and religion are a deadly combination.
September 10th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
@10
Stephen, you are absolutely right. Hawk did step toward the plate to cover the outside corner over his career. Diving does describe his batting style very well. Not saying he deserved to get beaned, but....
The ESPN article suggests Show felt really bad about what happened re:Dawson. A lot of his personal baggage should be attributible to his Dad.
September 10th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
As someone that has personally gone through serious drug addictions, I can relate. He seems like he was a genuinely decent guy that got forced into things that he didn't necesarily want (such as baseball). It really is too bad that he didn't have a stronger and more stable support system - that's what helped me get through it.
It sounds like Williams definately didn't help the situation, but the biggest blow had to be having his two close friends get traded. There isn't a lot that is worse than being alone in a crowd.
September 11th, 2010 at 2:22 am
Except for Al Downing giving up Hank Aaron's record breaking homer (and Tom House catching it in the bullpen), I don't remember the pitcher who gave up Barry Bond's record breaking homer, Pete Rose's record breaking hit, Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, or any of that stuff. Records like these are lifetime, or season-long accomplishments for the hitter, and who gave up the last of whole bunch of hits or homers shouldn't really be considered a bad thing.
September 11th, 2010 at 3:01 am
@Dan (#5) ... The information WAS unearthed earlier. 1981, to be exact. Credit goes to SABR member Pete Palmer, who discovered that Cobb had a 2-hit game double-counted in the official league records for 1910.
But as usual, MLB stuck its head in the sand and refused to correct Cobb's hit total (ostensibly because Rose was chasing the mark at that particular time.) Still haven't corrected it, for that matter. If you go to MLB.com and check the historical stats there, it says 4,191. (http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=112431). This site, of course, has the correct total of 4,189. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cobbty01.shtml).
The sad thing is, MLB doesn't always ignore SABR research on these matters. Check out the difference between the 1981 and 1999 entries on this page: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=schwarz_alan&id=1835745.
Why would they change Hack Wilson's RBI total and not Cobb's hit total, when both were so obviously inaccurate? It makes no sense.
September 11th, 2010 at 3:37 am
[...] The life and times of Eric Show » Baseball-Reference Blog » Blog … [...]
September 11th, 2010 at 6:19 am
@7 I actually met Dawson. He wasn't a jerk like you claim.
September 11th, 2010 at 7:45 am
[...] seems like he was a genuinely decent guy that got forced into things that he didnt necesarily want such as baseball. It really is too bad that he [...]
September 11th, 2010 at 8:34 am
How is Dawson a "prick"....I read that article....the guy was pissed off from being hit square in the face...how is that being a prick? Amazing logic people use sometimes. What did you expect Dawson to do? I would be mad as well ...hit me below the chest, fine but not the face.
September 11th, 2010 at 9:59 am
This article should be recommended reading for parents about to introduce their children into sports or any competitive endeavor. My experience is that many parents say that they would never act like Lee Show, but somehow miss the point and do it anyway. Some parents do it consciously and some do it unconsciously. Perhaps this article can be the mirror many parents need to look in while they encourage their children.
September 11th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Having an abusive father is something I know all about. It never ends up going well for the children, although most avoid being completely engulfed by the effects of a poor childhood.
Despite Eric Show's talent for both sports and music, he ended up losing his life far too early. And despite all his father did (or did not) the biggest factor was drugs. Eric was coping, he was making it, but then came the drugs and the hallucinations and paranoia. The drugs presented one more hurdle than he could make.
Andy, that was a great piece of writing. Thanks very much for the link.
September 11th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
BTW, I have to say I've never thought much of Pete Rose as a person. But the fact that he gave Eric a signed baseball with a kind inscription, is one of the nicest things I've ever read about Rose.
September 11th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
@3
Mags, I think why the article impacted me so much is because it made me think about my relationship with my own father and also with my son, who played baseball.
@22 @23
Teddy, sorry for your family past. I agree with you about it being a classy move for Rose to do that for Eric Show. Especially in light of the modern-day Rose hawking anything that will bring him money!
September 11th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
@22 and @23 I am sorry about you having an abusive parent.
September 12th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
I think I had heard that Show had committed suicide, but it looks like I heard wrong, that his death was accidental. I'm sorry it happened in the first place, but I'm glad to have had the chance to read the real story.
September 15th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I remember watching the Show-Dawson incident on WGN back in my junior high days, but it had been a while and I couldn't recall it so I found it on you-tube after reading this article. Man, Dawson was INTIMIDATING! I didn't really realize how quick and powerful and intimidating he was until I saw the HR he hit off of Eric before the infamous beaning.
I have to admit, I was an Eric Show hater, but then again, I am a Dodger fan and he was a Padre. But thank God for Bob Knepper! He made me forget all about Show!
Speaking Padres, I remember the day in '84 I first saw Steve Garvey and Goose Gossage standing together in the same uniform. It made me question the existence of God!!!