Do sports writers consider themselves above us common fans?

Mike Dowling’s Linked In post says he is self-employed and a media consultant.  Below his photo at forbes.com, he writes: “I will share with you my unique perspective on the Boston Red Sox.”

Coming up from copy boy to newspaper editor, I was told to avoid the word “unique,” because it is a misused word. Few things are unique, especially a baseball writer’s “perspective.”  But then, Dowling does work in Boston, were the smart folks live. That is smart as in “chic,” not necessarily as in “intelligent.”

I worked on five daily newspapers in Texas. Yes, sports writers consider themselves more intelligent than other newspaper writers and certainly more intelligent than their readers. It is ingrained. It cannot be purged.

What baseball fans do when having nothing to do

Babe Ruth’s first major league game was on July 11, 1914, with the Boston Red Sox. The oldest player on that team was catcher Bill Carrigan, 30. Carrigan broke in on July 7, 1906, with Boston. The oldest player on the 1906 team was Cy Young, 39. Young broke in with the Cleveland Spiders on Aug. 6, 1890. The oldest player on that team was Joe Ardner, age 32. Ardner broke in with the Cleveland Blues on May 1, 1884. The oldest player on that team was Doc Bushong, who was 28. Bushong broke in with the Philadelphia Athletics on July 19, 1876. The oldest player on that team was Nealy Phelps, age 35. Phelps broke in with the New York Mutuals on July 1, 1876. The oldest player on the Mutuals was Joe Start, age 33. Start broke in with the Mutuals on May 18, 1876. Major league baseball started in 1876, so you can’t go farther back than that.

Major league baseball was 38 years old when 19-year-old George Ruth put on his Boston uniform.

Stats at www.baseball-almanac.com

A little research, please

In Summer of ’49, author David Halberstam makes this claim: “They were an odd mix, the players and writers. The players were more often than not rural Southern Protestants; the writers were urban Irish and Jews.” P. 95, Nookbook edition.

Common sense, and a little knowledge of population, says the statement cannot be accurate. In 1949, total population in the Southern states was far less than in the North, when one assigns all states outside the South in one group. Only if a far greater percentage of Southerners played baseball could Southern ballplayers could outnumber Northern players.

Since Halberstam’s book focuses on the Red Sox and Yankees, and on New York and Boston sportswriters, I accessed team rosters at www.baseball-almanac.com. Here are the number of ballplayers on both teams combined and states/provinces of birth:

California – 11; New York – 7; New Jersey – 4; Pennsylvania – 4; Washington – 4; Maryland – 3; Alabama – 3; Ohio – 3; two each from Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina; and one player each from Saskatchewan, Michigan,Virginia, Utah, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan and Kentucky.

When a writer of Halberstam’s reputation makes such an unsubstantiated, inaccurate statement, you have to wonder about his other writings.