Pesky baseball blame-stories
I became a Grady Little fan last Sunday, when the Red Sox manager offered to shoulder the entire blame for the team's Game 7 loss to the Yankees. Little said his players didn't deserve any of that blame, and so if the media wanted to pin it on him, they should go right ahead.
Since then they have, and Little will probably lose his job over it. Strange world, when a manager's reputation in the media is more important than his reputation with his players.
But last Sunday I also happened to be reading David Halberstam's "The Teammates," which includes a lengthy discussion of the 1946 World Series. The Red Sox lost that one in seven games as well, and Johnny Pesky was unanimously nominated goat for hesitating before making a relay throw home. Halberstam, studying film, says Pesky actually didn't hesitate -- it's all a myth. But Pesky had learned as a kid that the one thing you can't do in baseball is deflect blame once it's been assigned to you, whether rightly or wrongly. Like Little, Pesky accepted the wrath of Red Sox Nation. But the Sox let him keep playing shortstop. And now, age eighty-something, he's one of the most beloved men in Boston.
What do YOU think? Drop a line to info@johnclaytonbooks.com. To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
Since then they have, and Little will probably lose his job over it. Strange world, when a manager's reputation in the media is more important than his reputation with his players.
But last Sunday I also happened to be reading David Halberstam's "The Teammates," which includes a lengthy discussion of the 1946 World Series. The Red Sox lost that one in seven games as well, and Johnny Pesky was unanimously nominated goat for hesitating before making a relay throw home. Halberstam, studying film, says Pesky actually didn't hesitate -- it's all a myth. But Pesky had learned as a kid that the one thing you can't do in baseball is deflect blame once it's been assigned to you, whether rightly or wrongly. Like Little, Pesky accepted the wrath of Red Sox Nation. But the Sox let him keep playing shortstop. And now, age eighty-something, he's one of the most beloved men in Boston.
What do YOU think? Drop a line to info@johnclaytonbooks.com. To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
