Sports Reporting vs. Journalism

Rick Reilly from Sports Illustrated did an interesting thing this week in his column from August 15, 2005. He called Jayson Stark of ESPN.com a gutless wonder for saying that as a Baseball Writer of America that he would vote for Rafael Palmeiro into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Here is the direct quote from SI:

“Some baseball writers, such as ESPN.com's Jayson Stark, don't think steroid use should count against a player. He wrote last week that he would vote Palmeiro into the Hall "first ballot, every ballot." And do you know why? "Because I'm not a cop," Stark wrote. "I'm just a guy who covers baseball for a living. So it's not my job to police this sport. It's the sport's job to police itself."
Aren't you glad Stark wasn't covering President Nixon for The Washington Post in 1972? "It's not my job to police the White House," Stark would've said. "It's the White House's job to police itself."
Hey, Jayson, Journalism 101: You are a watchdog. If it were up to baseball, every hitter would get four strikes, with his mom pitching and outfield fences set up for Wiffle ball.
Baseball writers coddle players because they have to cover them every day for eight months a year. They spend so much time with these undereducated, overpharmacied brats that they begin thinking like them. They even write the players' alibis for them: "But there was no rule against it then!" Every writer and every player knows that using steroids to pump up your numbers is flat-out immoral, unethical and wrong. And that includes Bonds, Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Mark McGwire and every other player who has flunked a steroid test or admitted taking steroids in grand jury testimony or admitted taking androstenedione, which metabolizes into testosterone in the system. “

To me, this is an interesting perspective. I tend to enjoy reading both of these columnists on a regular basis. The both provide a unique point of view. I am a bit surprised that Reilly would call another sports writer out so blatantly. I would assume that journalist’s had their own little fraternity and would not air their issues so publicly. Reilly could have just talked about the collective them, and left it up to us the readers to assume he was referring to, but no he specifically named names. But on the flip side, Reilly brings up another interesting point, which is the point about investigative journalism, and if it is not the responsibility of the press to uncover the cheats, whose responsibility is it exactly?

I agree that if a member of the media is not up front with the athletes they cover, then they will find it difficult to find interviews and gather information, which is one of the things Jayson Stark excels at, with the Rumor Central section. Obviously, players and GM trust him, since someone is giving him information, and if he began to trashing players then his sources will dry up and blow away. However, Sports Illustrated, which has always been a print medium, versus television has often prided itself on true journalistic investigative reporting, as opposed to ESPN the Magazine, which reads like an oversized fluff piece on whoever they are currently profiling. Part of the compelling element of sports is the dirty underbelly, how a player got to where he is, what they went through, and the hurdles he overcame.

I would like to see a Frank Deford, or John Feinstein or Bob Costas or some other credible reporter spend a significant time investigating who did steroids, and who did not in that past few years. One of the things I have always loved about baseball, is that from 1876-1990, the game was essentially exactly the same. A ball was a ball, was it softer before 1920, possibly, did the pitchers dominate in the 1960, yes. A record that was set or challenged when I was growing up was the same as when the record was set in 1974, 1961, 1941, or 1927. When Pete Rose hit in 44 straight games, it was the same game as when the Yankee Clipper hit 56straight in ‘41. However, this changed somewhere in the 90’s with steroids. Before we knew about steroids, the increase in hitter production was explained away (and some of these are still valid but greatly diminished) with newer smaller ball parks, the dilution of pitching through expansion and that pitchers were simply not as good as previous year due to earlier specialization earlier in the minor leagues. In hindsight, it was naïve to believe the hitters weren’t juiced and someone needs to go investigate if McGwire’s 70 and Bonds 73, plus Sosa’s 3 60+ HR seasons were tainted or not. If they were clean, then kudos to these players. If not, then it is no longer an even playing field and it needs to be noted as such.

You could ask, how is this different from Roger Maris’s asterisk, placed by commissioner Ford Frick after he hit 61 HR in 1961 in a 162 game season, beating the record set by Babe Ruth of 60 HR’s in a 154 game season. The reason it is different is simple, Maris did not cheat. He did not take human growth hormone, testosterone, estrogen, stanozolol, pitocin or any other supplement to improve his performance. In Billy Crystal’s movie *61, Barry Pepper playing Maris says it is not fair, since Ruth did not play at night, and did not have to travel to the west coast, which I generally agree with. Ruth never had to travel further west than St. Louis to play the pitiful Browns. The game was the same in 1961 as it was in 1927. It was not the same in 1998 or 2001 and it is unfair to say it was. I want to know how to compare the records from the past 10-15 years with those from the previous 100. I need someone like Woodward and Bernstein to dig up the facts and report them. The game will be better because of it, and the fans will be able to put this period behind and put it all into historical perspective.

This brings up the whole debacle with Karl Rove, Judith Miller, Matthew Cooper and the CIA spy married to the diplomat. Sounds like a bad LeCarre book. How is it possible that the republicans have essentially shifted the focus from Karl Rove and his potential illegal and probably immoral actions to something else, and the mainstream media has essentially just dropped the case? Here is an issue that is an essential question of first amendment rights and national security, versus furthering a political agenda, and smearing a person in the press and jeopardizing a spy and their network. This is a perfect opportunity for the democrats to keep pushing President Bush to make good on his promise to remove any immoral perpetrators in his administration, but as soon as it is his political strategist, then it is we will wait and see. You can be sure if this were reversed the republicans would not let the issue be shoved aside. I guess that is the fundamental difference between the two political parties, one strong and thriving, and one in a death throes waiting for someone or something to put it out of its misery.

What ever happened to Ross Perot’s independent party? I think they were on to something, but happened to have the right message and the wrong messenger, and then allowed the group to be hijacked by Jesse “The Body” Ventura in Minnesota and Pat Buchanan on the national stage. I think it is time for a new political party to rise and capture the middle, I am tired of only the extremes representing each party, there are not enough heard from the band of 14 Senators, who prevented the nuclear option in judicial nominations this past spring, essentially a group of moderates that said wait a minute this does not make any sense. Let’s think about this rationally and make an intelligent decision based upon reason, rather than partisan politics.

By the way, the Yankees just lost again to the Devil Rays 7-6 after leading 5-2 in the 6th. Robinson Cano had a crucial 2 base throwing error in the 8th and Alan Embree and Tanyon Sturtze were terrible, with Sturtze throwing a wild pitch about 4 feet over Jorge Posada’s head, allowing the winning run to score. The Yankees are now 4-9 against the Devil Rays this year. In spite of the fact that the Red Sox and the A’s lost this afternoon giving the Yankees an opportunity to gain ground on both teams in both races, the Yankees could not get it together and finish off Tampa Bay. Congratulations to Lou Pinella and the Devil Rays for fighting to the end and taking advantage of the Yankees mistakes and taking 2 of 3 in this series. I wonder if Lou will be managing the Yankees next year.