I finished watching this last night. Wow, really a must see for those who need to understand what desire really is. I had not previously known what a dominant fireballer Tiant had been before his shoulder injury forced him to reinvent himself.
Can you imagine having a guy finish a season with four consecutive complete game shutouts in the finish of a successful pennant race run? What would that guy be worth today? Yet when asked if he was a millionaire, Tiant just laughed ruefully, no no no. Oh how things have changed.
How about Tiant holding a 5-4 lead while stranding 2 men aboard in each of the 5th-9th innings of Game 4 of the World Series? The manager goes out in the 9th -- then leaves him in to face, and retire, NL MVP Joe Morgan to end it. 173 pitches that day. No one would ever even think about that today.
Also not a bad lesson in history and political economics for the non-baseball fan -- a great lesson about the things in this country that we take for granted. After 50 years under Castro, people in Cuba are still driving the same cars they had when he came in (if they are fortunate enough to have one). No grocery stores, no hardware stores. Families living on provisions doled out by the government, half a month's worth to last you a month, you have to forage for the rest. Poverty stricken people living in the same flats they've been in for 50 years, the very same places except they look like they haven't seen any maintenance for 50 years. Sickness, idleness and decay everywhere you look.
Someday I will figure out why so many people seem to want the USA to become a socialist nation. The legacy of socialism is poverty and all that comes with it, not to mention that it typically goes hand in hand with oppression.