13 Comments

Excellent piece. We can never forget our past lest we repeat it.

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author

Amen. And I fear we are not only on the verge of repeating it, but doubling down on the awfulness.

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You’re not wrong, Dan. My fears match yours, sadly. Not to get political, but I believe wholeheartedly that things in this country are going to change significantly after the election no matter which presidential candidate wins. Rightly or wrongly, there’s so little confidence in our electoral process that a very large percentage of the population will be unsatisfied at best, and even violently angry, perhaps.

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Jun 23Liked by Dan Epstein

Bravo Dan, excellent and important piece and wow, Reggie, keep stirring the drink man - the fact that someone telling the truth is so disturbing to too many people is why we have this shitshow of a culture now. The willful ignorance and fear of the truth is what destroys every good ol' empire.

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Jun 23Liked by Dan Epstein

Best Reggie interview ever. Thank you, Mr. October. And thank you for posting it all. ❤️

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Jun 23Liked by Dan Epstein

The sort of behaviour Reggie suffered should not be forgotten “because it was a long time ago” any more than the wars we continue to remember - in order to remind us - we should do better, not worse.

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Well done, as always. Appreciate you taking the detour from your regularly scheduled programming.

Truth in cliche: If we don’t remember our history (or more important, turn a blind eye to it), then we are doomed to repeat it.

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Fantastic article, Dan., Thanks for posting Reggie's statement in full as well. People dismissing his comments because they happened a "long time ago" are using the same rationale as those that say "now's not the time" after another mass shooting. It's cloud cover to avoid uncomfortable truths and or hard reckonings.

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author

Agreed - there’s never a bad time to talk about/learn from our failings.

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Mr. October speaks with clarity and sincerity in June.

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founding

Good on you and good on Reggie. A complex man who told it like it was and in many ways, still is, in all its complexity. Thank you for seizing this opportunity. It’s great that MLB honored the NL but it doesn’t makeover the past, so there’s no place for self-congratulation. MLB benefited much more from the NL than the reverse. It was an institutionalized “farm system” from which MLB could cherry-pick the future greats like Willie and Jackie. They each transcended in a totally different way but they both suffered unjustly.

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Jun 24Liked by Dan Epstein

Reggie is a proud man, was a great ball player and still today a great role model for our youths.

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Reggie is always tied to music by virtue of the fact that he was the first player to bring stereo into the A's clubhouse!

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