Consulting the historical documents

Joyous celebrations do not erase dark memories but can instead lead to a greater understanding of the past:

"Friday night, Jim Rooker caught Davey Concepcion in the left arm with a fast ball. On Saturday, with Davey unable to play, Manny Sanguillen came up to him and told him that Rooker...had thrown at him purposely.

"Then came today, Sunday....and Bruce Kison is pitching. First he knocks Bench down. Then he knocks Perez down. In the second inning, he comes close to Davey with a pitch."

And so it happened that day on a field in Pittsburgh:

"They start going at it hot and heavy. [Ken] Brett seeks out Concepcion, coming toward him and shouting, 'You started this.' He gets popped right in the eye and he winds up with a black eye. Daryl Patterson, the Pittsburgh relief pitcher, winds up fighting with Borbon....When I look up, Borbon has him on the ground, is pulling his hair and pounding Patterson's face raw....

"'He fights like a woman,' Patterson said in the papers the next day....

"'Like a dog,' laughed Pedro."

Finally:

"Davey Concepcion is really going at it....'Hey, Yo,' he says to Joe Morgan....'Hey, Yo, I gonna be a superstar....You see. I be superstar,' says Davey. Trouble is, he's probably right."

(from "Charlie Hustle," Rose, Hertzel; copyright 1975 by Associated Features Inc; pp 140-144.)