XM MLB Chat

Friday, September 21, 2007

If true in 1993, it's even moreso now....the superfluous "Beat Writer"

Allen Barra reviews a 1993 book by 2 then NY Mets beat writers about the 1992 Mets:

  • "Bob Klapisch for The Daily News and John Harper for The New York Post -- take the reader from the preseason trades of disgruntled star players through accusations of gang rape to enough petty feuds and squabbles to fuel a soap opera. All you want to know about the Mets' 1992 season is in "The Worst Team Money Could Buy," as well as a few things you may not want to know and quite a few things you would never have thought to ask.

In one sense Mr. Klapisch and Mr. Harper have done their job. They detail the arrogance, egomania and ineptitude that helped create the 1992 fiasco....On the other hand....

  • "The Worst Team Money Could Buy" never comes to grips with the fact that the enormous sums baseball players now earn have

changed the role of the newspaper beat writer. To their credit, the authors acknowledge that beat writers no longer just report the news but are having an increasingly greater influence on the shaping of it.

  • (In one bizarre vignette, the Mets' then manager, Davey Johnson, calls a peace meeting between Mr. Klapisch, his colleague Mike Lupica and the Mets' first baseman, Keith Fernandez, whom Mr. Lupica had called "the Prince of Darkness.")"
(More teams are moving press boxes to out of the way spots in the stadium. The point is, those people can all gab if they want, but their job is largely superfluous. Or redundant). sm
  • (Allen Barra)"Newspapers are no longer the primary source for descriptions of games, as they were in, say, Ring Lardner's day, when players and writers traveled, ate and played cards together, and when players' off-field exploits were taboo subjects for news columns.
  • Today it seems that beat writers more and more cover teams to explore the players' private lives and to offer judgments about players' character (or lack of it). Friction between press and players, especially in New York, seems inevitable. One wonders if it isn't beginning to grate on readers."
(Yes. And fans). sm P.S. Mr. Harper is now with the NY Daily News. Mr. Klapisch is now with the North Jersey (Bergen) Record.
  • For the BBWAA record:
On 11/10/05 on XM radio, Scott Miller said Chris Carpenter deserved the NL Cy Young in part as recognition for 'lifetime achievement.' Carpenter had pitched 6 full regular seasons, parts of 2 others. He had appeared to date 1 year in the post season, 2005, in the NLDS and NLCS. In spite of this and other statements, Scott Miller continues to be treated like royalty. On 1/12/06 on XM radio, Scott Miller said the BBWAA's first job is to protect newspaper writers.

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posted by susan at 9/21/2007 10:54:00 PM

2 Comments:

  • Newspapers are going the way of the dodo and some day these sport teams will realize that with every team (especially baseball) having their own network and every League having its own Umbrella Network along with the internet to reach their customers they will see Espn, Fox sports and tabloid rags for what they are which is a viral parasite.

    I follow sports for fun and they like to refer to my team as evil. Evil Empire. I cant help but think 20 years the national sports media would've jumped down the throat of the red sox owner for that kind of comment but now hes a hero and their just as likely to refer to my team as the evil empire on sports center as they are to calling them the Yankees. Very professional. Which I don't need to tell you is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their bile and garbage.

    I once heard a story on the radio (cant remember who told it) and he said "My wife made my favorite Ham dinner last night" but a question occurred to him, "why do you cut a part of the top of the ham and the back end of the ham off". She said I don't know its my mothers recipe. So she called her mother and asked her why the recipe calls for cutting the ham that way. She said I don't know its your grandmothers recipe who was still alive and they called her and it turned out that when she moved to this country as a young women and was married and living in a very small apartment in New York with a very small stove she had to cut the ham that way to get it to fit in the stove.

    Which is were we are generally with sports media today specifically the daily newspaper. Early in the last century they were given access in return sports were given exposure. The incident like Arod with the blond in Toronto was not news in 1957 but 2007 Arod must be running for president. That kind of journalism will become more frequent as newspapers try to ward off the death that they will surly succumb to this century. The question is when will baseball and other sports realize that they only give newspapers the access they do becuase they always have and not because its good for them. Which is why they were given the access in the first place.

    By Blogger james, at 1:24 AM  

  • You're right on the money as always, James. The negativity is a learned trait. Your anecdote about the grandmother is as reasonable as the backwards media situation today. It's the equivalent of a rust belt factory. I understand they think they're important, but so did the rust belt factory workers.

    By Blogger susan, at 1:44 AM  

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