[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

Rogers Hornsby was pretty much universally regarded as a complete bastard, among the least-liked players of his era. From his SABR bio:

"Hornsby, however, was almost as well known for his bluntness and complete lack of diplomacy as his prowess with a bat. He rarely argued with umpires but said whatever crossed his mind to anyone else, including the owners he worked for. Longtime Cardinals owner Sam Breadon remarked that listening to Hornsby was like have the contents of a rock crusher emptied over his head...

Hornsby’s managerial career was far less successful than his playing career, however, especially at the major-league level. He managed for all or part of 15 big-league seasons with six franchises, achieving by far his greatest success as player-manager of the 1926 world champion St. Louis Cardinals.6 However, his overbearing, often irascible personality created poor relations with both players and owners, and led to his being fired at every post, sometimes in midseason..."

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b5854fe4

According to one account, when Alexander came in to face Lazzeri in the 1926 WS, Alexander told Hornsby how he was going to pitch him. Hornsby was about to protest the inside fastball on the second pitch (which, as Alexander predicted, he would foul off), but then decided he would just be quiet and defer to a man who to that point had won something like 350 games. It was a gutsy move to go to Alexander in the first place because he had just won the previous day and, on top of that, was hung over.