@ShannaW99167418 The duke university case will always be in my mind. The lacrosse team was lambasted, I’m sure you know people who have lied to protect themselves or what someone might think of them.
Jackie Robinson stole home 19 times in his career. Nineteen. Less a slide question than a nerve question, and it is the reason he made this card over some faster men.
Nobody gets to nineteen by accident. A stolen base is a calculation. Home plate is a dare.
Rose is the picture everyone has, because of the headfirst dive, and he did more than anybody to make that the image of hard baserunning. Whether it was actually faster is still argued and probably always will be.
The argument has outlived everybody who could settle it.
Cobb slid with his spikes showing and made no apology about it. Rickey had 1,406 steals, including 130 in 1982 alone, so he got more practice at this than anybody who has ever played the game. Cobb's version was about intimidation and Rickey's was about volume.
Practice is its own kind of evidence.
The slide only matters if you were bold enough to be there.