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Originally Posted by Huysmans
Terrible?? Based on what... "actually"?
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Perhaps "terrible" is a bit strong, but let's see, Rogers Hornsby
1) was bigoted, anti-Semitic, and, at least for a short period, a member of the KKK
2) was extremely unfriendly and difficult to get along with. He ignored or disparaged the majority of his teammates, and so tended to room alone, eat by himself, and shower, dress and exit the clubhouse without speaking a word to his fellow players.
3) was so unlikeable that despite his prodigious talents, he moved teams more than 14 times over the course of his playing and managerial career, and was basically consigned to manage in the minors for over a decade because Commissioner Landis reportedly blacklisted him from MLB positions due to his personality and gambling problems. At one point as a manager, Hornsby was fined for punching an opposing manager and knocking him out during an on-field argument. When asked why he hit him, Hornsby said, "I wasn't making any progress talking to him." At another point, his players were so happy that he'd been fired that they paid for and gave the owner a three-foot high trophy with the engraving, "To Bill Veeck: For the greatest play since the Emancipation Proclamation.”
4) was an inveterate gambler who lost so much money betting on horses that he lost several jobs because of it, and tried to make up for his gambling debts by cheating the IRS. He was subsequently charged with understating his income.
5) cheated on his first wife with a married woman, and was sued by the husband of the woman he was cheating with for breaking up their marriage. Hornsby later married and divorced again, and then took up with a woman who, a few years later, committed suicide. While it is unclear if Hornsby had anything directly to do with the suicide, one probably should assume that his personality didn't help matters.
6) was estranged from his son Rogers Jr. for most of his life, and made the comment that he was glad another son, Billy, had been released early on by a minor league team because, in Hornsby's view, Billy wasn't a "real player," and "imagine how I would have felt, seeing the Hornsby name down in the batting averages with the pitchers"
7). According to Bill James, "If a contest is ever held to determine the biggest horse's ass in baseball history, there are really only seven men, four of them players, who could hope to compete at that level. The four players are Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Dick Allen, and Hal Chase. I think I might choose Hornsby."