So says Hall of Fame hurler Bob Gibson in Sixty Feet, Six Inches: “Too much is made of camaraderie and chemistry and all that stuff. I don’t need a teammate that I love. Give me one who can play.”
Similarly, co-author and fellow Cooperstown inductee Reggie Jackson remembers what life was like on the A’s teams of the 1970s that captured five straight division titles and three consecutive World Series titles:
We were young and full of testosterone. Fights were so common in that club house that we’d just deal the cards and keep playing, unless it was your turn to break it up. But everyone made up afterwards. I don’t think it ever undermined what we were trying to do on the field. If anything, we were united in our anger towards [A’s owner Charlie] Finley.
H/T Jeff Zimmerman of Beyond the Boxscore.