When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

05.19.2008
Reporters' Notebooks

Two interesting tidbits surfaced this weekend from the biggest reporters on the Giants beat, the Chron’s Henry Schulman and the Merc’s Andy Baggarly.

Schulman first: remember the story last week in which Brian Sabean said the Giants could compete in the NL West? Turns out Sabean later complained he was taken out of context, fed a trick question, etc. Usually protests like this are after-the-fact CYA (no, not Catholic Youth Association). But on the SF Gate this weekend, Schulman posted a mea culpa. Here’s the crux of his apology:

I don't think it was a trick question. It was straightforward, and so was Sabean's answer. But I do believe I did Sabean a disservice by committing a journalistic sin that I despise from other reporters. I cherry-picked one provocative thought and threw it out there as a declaration by Sabean rather than placing it in the context of the entire conversation.

Sabean was not throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of the NL West. He surely understands the Giants' challenges in 2008. He also knows that many of the team's problems were caused by his own mistakes, and criticism by fans and the press is fair game. He has said as much.

Reporters try hard (or should) to be fair; when they’re not, it’s hard to get them to admit it, as Schulman does here. The effect, however, can’t be undone. Sabean’s quotes from last week have spread throughout the Internets. Schulman’s retraction probably won’t get as far, in part because it doesn’t match the dominant perception of Sabean already in place.

As for Baggarly, he’s the first reporter to snag a full interview with incoming ownership chief Bill Neukom. The entire text is here, on Baggarly’s blog. One thing to remember about Neukom as he enters the spotlight: he’s very smart and very experienced with the media. Don’t expect him to speak off-the-cuff or say anything too juicy. He’ll be like Sabean but with cleaner syntax.







[May 19, 2008 1:18 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Chris said

I was thinking,

"He's like Sabean but with a penchant for bow ties!"

[May 19, 2008 3:00 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Jefferson said

Much respect to Schulman for manning up and admitting his mistake. To be honest, I didn't think that Sabean was totally nuts. Baseball is a sport where crazy things can happen -- just ask the Phillies and the Rockies, or the 2006 Cardinals.

I'm not gonna say that the Giants are going to contend this year, but I won't sneer at anyone who says that anything can happen.

[May 19, 2008 7:15 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive replied to Jefferson

+1

I've been posting essentially this since that came out.

The problem is definitely that it was taken out of context. All Sabean really said is that if the Giants could stay close enough in 3rd place, they have a chance. And like Jefferson noted, there are plenty of examples where a team suddenly surged and not just compete but won a division or got in the playoffs.

But the headline Sabean-bashing angle was too juicy to avoid I suppose.

At least Schulman admitted his mistake, the media is pretty bad about doing that, it usually gets buried in the section of the newspaper nobody reads as much, or in small print somewhere when the original mistake was given headline status.

Still, the apology is on his blog, where maybe 0.01% of the people reading the original NEWSPAPER article will see it. If the newspaper had the guts to put it on the front page of the sporting green, then I would be more impressed.

Also, the blog was not really an apology: "I don't think it was a trick question."

It's like the old "Do you still beat your wife?" question. If Sabean is truthful and dismiss our chances, he looks bad and probably gets reprimanded by the owners, but if he states what he did say, he gets beat up too. THAT is the essense of a trick question, the answerer has no way to answer in a way that makes himself look good.

So Mr. Schulman, do you still beat up your significant other?

[May 19, 2008 5:40 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

How is he like Sabean?

[May 19, 2008 6:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive replied to Frank

"he’s very smart and very experienced with the media. Don’t expect him to speak off-the-cuff or say anything too juicy."

[May 19, 2008 6:52 PM]  |  link  |  reply
bigO said

Bavasi will be gone at the end of this year. . .