Bamberger's year on the Philly beat

Yes, he did.

And I have a quick question for everyone here who took this thread as an opportunity to skewer Bamberger personally rather than simply criticize the piece. Especially anyone making accusations about how he gathered his material.

You guys all called him when this piece first ran, right? Or sent an email? Or wrote a letter? To let him know how disgusted you were with him, and to tell him how wrong he'd gotten everything? You told him who you were, and how you saw it differently, and then let him know how you felt? Right?

Because big-city beat guys would never hide behind the anonymity of a message board to make accusations or say things about another writer that they didn't have the courage to say to his face. Right?

EDIT, per the post below.

 

Yes, I sent him a letter. I do that every time I express an opinion about someone's work here. Standard procedure for me, as I'm sure it is for most.

My personal secretary has Norm MacLean's address memorized.

 

I'm not talking about the work Smasher, that's fair game here, as everyone knows. I'm talking about the personal attacks. I'll modify my original post since that seems unclear.

 

yes, i did.

 

Thanks, Shockey. It would strike me as the stand-up thing to do.

 

This thread has been one of the more edifying discussions on this site, a glimpse into the real-life workday, and there hasn't been a single gratuitous personal attack. Every single comment has related to the dynamics on that beat during that season.

Further, the Bamberger article itself studied how personalities influence a job setting, thus making personalities fair game for comment, rendering it morally irrelevant whether any of those opining here wrote to Bamberger in the first place.

 

i'm a stand-up guy. i spoke to mike freeman after his SportsJournalists.com rant, too, since he attacked several people i consider friends. 8) 8) 8)

 

Sounds to me like Bamberger was the last player picked for sandlot football and Brown was the first.
But those positions switched later in life when Brown got passed over in favor of Bamberger.

 

Read the thread again. When you come to the part where Bamberger is accused of misrepresenting himself to speak to the widow and her family, make note.

If you're going to call someone out for that, which is neither about "personality" nor about the "job setting," the nature of that assertion is no longer "morally irrelevant." It's an anonymous hatchet job.

I'm not suggesting that the statement is true or untrue. I'm saying that if you haven't confronted him personally on that same issue, don't come here and post it under cover of a screen name. Because that's gutless.

And I'm not suggesting that we don't turn this work over for very close inspection. In fact, as you point out, it's been terrifically illuminating. So much so, that perhaps this was the original intention in running it - that readers be allowed to see how the sausage is made, and by whom.

I don't know Bamberger, nor have I ever met him. But to come in here and post scurrilous things about a writer, or about the way he does his work, that you wouldn't have the stones to say to him in the box or in a bar is cowardly.

 

the above is a very fair point. 8) 8)

 

This is at least the second time this thread has taken this kind of life, and it's interesting to see how divisive it is. Most likely because a good majority of people here side with either Bamberger or Brown, who represent two styles at the extremities of our profession.
There are writers who feel getting on top of every minute detail -- every sore forearm, every double-A roster move -- makes them a great reporter despite the fact they rarely give the readers more on the players themselves, most likely because thinking about something as complex as the human psyche suddenly makes their job that much more complicatetd.
There are also writers who go too far with ignoring the minutae, forgetting that many of their readers do care about many of those details that might not help in framing a poetic feature. But then, their job, too, would be much more complicated because it means getting to the park hours earlier, building more sources and every once in a while throwing a player a bone.
Neither writer is right. The best manage to fit in between. But judging by the interest and fervor this thread always extracts from people as busy as sportswriters, it seems we have plenty on both of these sides.

 

Well put, Snopes.