Not All Baseball Writers Deserving of Spot in Hall
Jim Murray belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame. He is a bright, witty, professional sports journalist who takes pride in his work.
However, he puts too much importance in his fellow writers when he claims that they are the ultimate baseball fans and are as important to the game as the umpires. Give us a break, Jim!
Unfortunately, for every Grantland Rice and Damon Runyon, there are 50 beat writers who are only interested in developing controversy so they can sell newspapers. In many instances, the irresponsible twisting of the athletes’ words has hurt the baseball fans. I’m sure Steve Carlton, a Cy Young Award winner and certain Hall of Famer, has some very interesting insights on the game. But he refused to speak to the press because they constantly misquoted him and changed his answers to fit the theme of their story--whether it stretched the truth or not. He got tired of it and simply stopped talking.
No, Jim, the baseball players are the game. The sportswriters’ job is to do their research and homework and simply report the facts.
ANDY GUYER
San Diego
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