Wrong again!

September 5th, 2007 → 11:09 am @ // No Comments

I try not to respond to bait from those current (or former) Boston reporters who, for whatever reason, seem to have a bone to pick with the fact that I was the person who wrote the behind-the-scenes book on the Sox’s recent history…but I do feel compelled to correct one glaring inaccuracy in Howard Bryant’s recent ESPN.com column. In a column purportedly about…well, I’m actually not entirely sure what it’s about, but in said column, Bryant includes this paragraph:

“Henry, Werner and Lucchino needed validation for their collective erudition. In 2005 — in apparent response to Michael Lewis’ runaway bestseller ‘Moneyball’ — they commissioned a journalist, presumably for posterity, to chronicle their daily routines, management style and approach to the business of baseball, a behind-the-scenes, special features companion disc to the DVD that was the regular season.”

Since I actually know what I’m talking about here, l want to point out that every single statement in that graf is incorrect. I wasn’t commissioned to write Feeding the Monster; I pitched the book to my agent, we put together a proposal, and I hammered out a arrangement with the Sox that dictated the terms of my access. They didn’t come to me to propose the book; they didn’t commission anything; they had no editorial control over the final product; and no money between myself and the team ever exchanged hands. What’s more, I have no idea what any of that has to do with Moneyball…but whatever.

Maybe this shouldn’t bother me; as the good folks at Sons of Sam Horn recently pointed out, Bryant can be a little bit imprecise with his facts. (The example above is about a column titled “Mussina, Schilling being stalked by mortality” in which Bryant referred to Schilling’s recent loss to the Yankees as a game in which Curt “was beaten 5-0”; in fact, Curt gave up 2 runs in seven innings in what was eventually a 5-0 loss. What’s more, comparing a guy who recently took a one-hitter into the ninth and who has a 4 ERA and a 4-1 K/BB ratio to a guy who lost his starting job, has a 5.50 ERA, and less than a 3-1 K/BB ratio also seems kind of silly…) But as someone whose first book was about media ethics, I bristle at the notion of my being in financial cahoots with the subject of anything I happen to be writing about.


Post Categories: Feeding the Monster & Media reporting & Red Sox ownership & Sports Reporters

3 Comments → “Wrong again!”


  1. rln2433

    17 years ago

    That article was more about Mussina. Schilling was just a throw in and Bryant didn’t do anything in the way of research.

    ESPN sucks. Their studio analysts are morons and their writers are weak. Gammons even got into the act by trying to say that Joba Chamberlain looked over to A-Rod for approval after throwing at Youk’s head. Not sure where or even how he could have seen that one.

    Although I thought I saw that washed up whore Clemens giving the young Chamberlain a lecture prior to JC going back out to the mound in the 9th…….

    Reply

  2. rog

    17 years ago

    The clip that mentions Monster is actually pretty interesting, though that phrase mentioning the ‘commissioning’ of the book by the team stuck out at me and I’m surprised that it took so long for you to comment about it. I think he was trying to imply that after Moneyball made Beane and the A’s the darlings of baseball (for being ‘small-market’, whatever that means) that the team decided to commission a book about the Sox because they were jealous of the attention to Oakland. Ridiculous.

    Reply

  3. tinisoli

    17 years ago

    I thought about alerting you, Seth, to Bryant’s rather outrageous claim, but I figured you’d see it yourself. This kind of thing is akin to Joe Morgan’s repeated claim that Billy Beane wrote “Moneyball”. Absurd.

    Reply

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