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A Plea to America's Baseball Writers

Ladies and gentlemen, in the name of something resembling perspective, can we pretty please have an end to the noxious overuse of unnamed sources? You are NOT covering the %#*&! CIA. The baseball world is the biggest collection of gossipy old biddies extant, don't encourage them. If your "veteran scout" or "league insider" won't go on the record, the reason might be he's playing you and your readers for his own ends.

In today's Globe coverage of the Red Sox bid for Daisuke Matsuzaka (spell his name once a day and you'll be ready for spring training), Nick Cafardo quoted "an American League general manager" who said the Japanese righthander "might be the best pitcher in baseball."

Bold talk from an anonymous source. I'll eat Trot Nixon's hat if it wasn't J.P. Ricciardi of the Blue Jays, but that's not my point. I was struck by a what if, namely, what if I was a fan of this GM's team?

My front office thinks Matsuzaka is the best pitcher in the game. My front office did doodley squat to get him for our team, but is happy the Yankees got screwed. I am paying for season tickets why exactly?

Baseball people are often indiscreet on the record. Off the record, they'll say any damn fool thing that comes into their head. This makes them delightful company for conversation, but not the most reliable sources for a journal of record.

Readers love baseball gossip. Nothing wrong with that, as long as they remember one thing. The stories about Britney Spears in the magazines in the supermarket check-out line contain more reliable information than the usual Hot Stove roundup. The national pastime has the highest bullshit to fact ratio of any human endeavor. Many dedicated and talented reporters spend countless hours chasing the same few facts. Of necessity, this drives the ratio even higher.

posted by Michael Gee @ 9:07 AM