Exonerate-Rod

Perfect, he’s not.

It seems that Dallas Braden might be full of shit with regards to Moundgate after all.

Deadspin posted footage (via The Fleer Sticker Project) the other day from the 1971 Word Series that shows Don Buford running over Dock Ellis’ mound while on his way across the field. Apparently, when it happened, there was never any mention of “unwritten rules,” nobody made a big deal about it and Ellis (who might have been whacked out of his gourd) didn’t take offense and throw a hissy fit.

I wonder if Snaggletooth was made aware of Buford’s mortal sin. If he was, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

It’s very interesting that during an old school game — in the World Series, nevertheless — this went unnoticed, but when A-Rod does it during a meaningless April game the shit hits the fan. I truly believe that if A-Rod wasn’t the antagonist here this story wouldn’t have been a story at all.

So where do we go from here? Was Braden making a mountain out of a molehill and attempting to prolong his “15 minutes of fame?” If so, does he owe A-Rod an apology? Did A-Rod, in fact, break an “unwritten rule?” I want some closure to this story.