Gentlemen of the Press? Tell us YOUR names--the LA Times' "correction"

Funny how timing works--if the false claims in the LA Times' front page story had come out only a few days earlier, they would have weakened the so-called Mitchell Report. Mitchell happily creates a link between the (fake) LA Times story and the court of public opinion as another reason for Andy Pettitte to lose his career.

• (By the way, once again Paul Byrd's name is miraculously out of the limelight. How nice for him).

Fascinating--the LA Times had continually requested the affadavit revealing the truth to be unsealed, but "spokespersons" declined to elaborate on the hold-up, waiting until after Mitchell had triumphantly left the stage. Judge Voss, presiding over the unsealing, himself adamantly refused to let the truth come out until AFTER George Mitchell took the stage. Disingenuous of him to sputter about it now, later in this post.

• The so-called front page correction loses the casual reader with a confusing jumbled opening quietly getting to a correction--its purpose--in the third paragraph:

LA Times:"Former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley accused baseball players Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa of using steroids, according to a federal affidavit that was unsealed Thursday, 18 months after the document was first released with players' names blacked out.

• Grimsley, a reliever who last pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks, also named Chuck Knoblauch as a human growth hormone user, and accused former teammates David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs.

The unsealed affidavit contradicts a story The Times published Oct. 1, 2006. Citing anonymous sources, including a Grimsley confidant and an individual "with authorized access to [the] unredacted affidavit," The Times' story said Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons, Miguel Tejada and Segui and strength coach Brian McNamee were named in the document. In fact, Clemens, Pettitte, Gibbons and Roberts were not named. Also, The Times' report said Grimsley alleged that Tejada used anabolic steroids. The only mention of Tejada in the affidavit was a conversation he had with teammates about baseball's ban on amphetamines."

• NAME OR NAMES OF THE PERSON WHO REPORTED THIS FALSEHOOD AND HIS BOSS WHO APPROVED IT. NEED THOSE. (sm)

LA Times correction article: "The day after the story ran, Kevin Ryan, then the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said it contained "significant inaccuracies."

• (It appears the inmates are running the asylum). sm

LATimes: "The Times made repeated attempts, including earlier this week, to have the government clarify what the inaccuracies were, but spokespersons for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco declined to elaborate."

• ON GEORGE MITCHELL'S USE of the FALSE STORY TO BACK UP HIS CLAIMS:

• Judge Voss who presided over the unsealing NOTED THIS:
• LA TIMES: "The [Times] article trumpets the success . . . in ending the 'months of speculation' surrounding which major league ballplayers Jason Grimsley named. . . . A review . . . proves that The Times never saw the unredacted affidavit. . . . At best, the article is an example of irresponsible reporting. At worst, the 'facts' reported were simply manufactured." Voss added:
• "Unfortunately, The Times' article still has legs," a reference to its mention in last week's 409-page report by former Sen. George Mitchell on performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball."

From the LA Times "Baseball Affadavit is UnSealed," by Lance Pugmire, 12/21/07

• P.S. I understand you want everything in life to be "random"--murders, slanders, libel, robbery, plagiarism, bombings, and everything in baseball. In other words, we should all go home and die and let you have the world. That requires one to be a brain-dead robot, an employee of ESPN/MLB or aspiring to be such.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon