BASEBALL WRITERS DISCOVER THEY'RE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS THEY THOUGHT---New age Press Box debuts

• From the NY Times, 6/11/07, one feels "hopeless." This article is the best news I've seen all year. With the advent of television and the continuation of live radio, the old style press box is an anachronism.

CHICAGO, June 6 — "The original press box at the 16-year-old U.S. Cellular Field was a fine place to cover a White Sox game. From their nest behind home plate, reporters could easily discern the spin of a curveball or hear the thwack of bat on ball.

But this year, the White Sox gutted it and remade it into the Jim Beam Club, with 200 theater seats and barstools that cost $260 to $315 each; when sold out, the club could generate $4 million or more in revenue.

“We were giving the press the best real estate in the building, slightly elevated behind home plate, which they don’t need,” said Jerry Reinsdorf, the real estate investor who is chairman of the White Sox.

When asked why he moved the press to a much worse vista two levels up and along the first-base and right-field line, Reinsdorf unhesitatingly said, “Financial.”

Reinsdorf is far from unique among team owners looking at the extra money that can be made in arranging, or rearranging, their home facilities to accommodate more luxury suites or club seats.

At the same time, baseball reporters (usually print and radio) have been shifted to higher spots, as in PNC Park in Pittsburgh, or inferior aeries like the one at the year-old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Cardinals improved the habitability of the press box before this season as part of renovations needed to play host to the 2009 All-Star Game; the press box is higher than it was in the old Busch Stadium, a design that gives preference to luxury boxes.

“Last year, it was a gulag,” said Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In the Jim Beam Club during the Yankees-White Sox game Wednesday night, the privileged packed the tables in the club’s indoor restaurant to dine on smoked turkey with apricot and pineapple chutney, and bay scallops with orzo.

Pres Harris sat with his two sons in the front row outside, marveling at his good fortune because someone had given him three tickets to the club while he was standing in line at the ballpark to buy reserved seats.

“It’s fantastic,” he said of the view from the front row, which last year was the domain of reporters.

Becky Roppolo, who works for a local steel company, came dressed in a Paul Konerko replica jersey, and was elated that her boss had given her his tickets for the second time. The sweet seat, she said, “kind of spoils you.”

Joe Varan, a real estate investor from Hinsdale, Ill., was in one of the four front-row, center-of-the-club seats that he splits with a friend.

“There’s nothing like this,” said Varan, who then compared the club to the “scout seats” on the field level behind home plate; they cost $220 to $285 each. “You can call the balls and strikes and see the outfield plays develop.”

None of the fans said they much cared that they had displaced reporters who now depend more on TV monitors than they once did. It is a sentiment they share with Reinsdorf.

“It doesn’t matter if Dave van Dyck can see how much the ball breaks,” he said, referring to The Chicago Tribune’s national baseball writer.

Van Dyck said his former view mattered greatly; now he cannot see plays developing or the “full scan of the field.”

“It’s like watching TV from the side,” he added, still irate that the team did not consult reporters about the change."

• YOU WRITERS ARE ABOVE ALL, MEMBERS OF YOUR OWN FRATERNITY. EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF PLAYERS, HAS COME AFTER THAT. YOU DESERVE ANY DEMOTION YOU GET. NOW WE HEAR FROM INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY AND GAD-FLY, INTERVIEWED ON WFAN RADIO FOR 1 REASON ONLY---BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH HE'D BEEN CITED A YEAR BEFORE FOR BAD BEHAVIOR BY THE WRITERS' FRAT, JOE COWLEY WAS BACK VOTING AGAIN--TEE--HEE--AND HE VOTED DEREK JETER 6th for MVP in 2006--tee hee--BECAUSE HE COULD AND BECAUSE IT MADE HIM IMMORTAL. sm

"Joe Cowley, who covers the White Sox for The Chicago Sun-Times, said he did not mind the view, and he was not surprised about the White Sox’ move. “They sold out the start time to 7-Eleven,” he said, referring to a sponsorship deal with the chain of convenience stores to shift the starting time of night games to 7:11.

In N.B.A. arenas, reporters in some cities have been moved out of earshot of the repartee among players, coaches and referees.

The N.B.A. has left it to the teams to determine whether they would move reporters and where they would put them, while keeping TV broadcasters at scorer’s tables. Brian McIntyre, a league spokesman, said the change was not made because of the weakening influence of newspapers.

“It was strictly a way to get revenue,” he said, “and some people closer to the game.”

But in doing so, said Brian Windhorst, who covers the Cavaliers for The Akron Beacon Journal, the presence of nearby reporters working on deadline “has upset a lot of fans, and there’ve been some, and caused some nasty incidents.”

He added, “We’re trying to do our job, and they’re trying to have fun.”"

• NO ONE FORCED YOU GUYS TO DO THIS JOB. YOU SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF MARTYRS. sm.

"At U.S. Cellular Field, the relocated press box prompted a demand by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to meet with Commissioner Bud Selig to receive assurances that a similarly drastic change would not occur at other ballparks. (The Kansas City Royals are moving their press box up a level, but still behind home plate, next season.)

“We’re paid to do the job to the best of our ability,” Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune said as he watched Wednesday’s game from high above first base. His new sightline hindered his ability to best describe, with his own eyes, Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter on April 18.

“I just feel hopeless,” he said."

Article from NY Times by Richard Sandomir, 6/11/07, "PRESS BOXES BECOME AN AFTERTHOUGHT."

P.S. This article gives me great validation for what I've done on this blog. The baseball writers need to be separated from their hold on the fortunes of the game, teams, and many individual players. Many who frequent baseball blogs probably side with the old school baseball writers and/or would like to be among them. To me the first priority is to see them as a corrupt political institution.*** After that is accomplished, we can move on.

• POLITICS AND WHY MANY NEWSPAPERS NOW PREVENT THEIR EMPLOYEES FORM VOTING ON BASEBALL AWARDS:

There are countless examples on this blog. Here are 2: Joe Christensen on XM with Charley Steiner, 9/16/06, said he wouldn't vote for Jeter for MVP "because he's on a team of rich guys getting it done." (Posted on this blog that day).

Mike Vaccaro, The NY Post, Bronx Bias Strikes Jeter

"November 22, 2006 -- MAYBE it's best that Derek Jeter get a preview of what's in store for him across the next 15 years. Maybe it's best that we get it on the record, from a sizable cross-section of the nation's baseball writers, exactly what his perception really is, what his national image really is.

This time, it was an MVP Award, one that he deserved, one that should have his name on it, one that was taken from him primarily because of the team he plays for and the city he plays in. The voters will tell you differently, but know this: If Derek Jeter had the season he had playing for the Minnesota Twins, and if Justin Morneau had the season he had playing for the Yankees, it would be Jeter who would be reserving space on his shelf for the MVP plaque.

But Jeter doesn't play for the Twins. He plays for the Yankees. He plays in New York City. He makes a lot of commercials, and he dates a lot of starlets, and he makes a lot of money, and if you think that doesn't count in the minds of the people who cast these votes, you're a greater believer in the purity of human nature than I am.

• And here's the thing: This is only the warm-up. Just wait another 15 years or so, when it's time for the same assemblage of writers to size up Jeter's credentials as a Hall of Famer. Just wait, especially, when the arbiters of immortality decide whether Jeter's career merits the honor of a first-ballot selection, or whether they'll force him to endure a few years of consolation phone calls first."

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