Author profile: Jonathan Mayo

My interview with Jonathan Mayo, author of Facing Clemens, appears in this week’s issue of NJ Jewish News. Among other things, Mayo, a senior writer for MLB.com specializing in the minor leagues, reveals the “oy vey” moments he experienced after the release of the Mitchell Report in December, several months after his book in which he interviews a variety of batters who faced Clemens was slated for publication.

My review of Facing Clemens.

Well I’m glad that’s all cleared up…

In a way I feel bad for Roger Clemens. In a sense, one of his comments on tonight’s 60 Minutes was right: America (or at least some of its baseball fans), have reached a point where it’s guilty until proven innocent.

To my mind, Clemens did not convince me of his innocence. I wonder if some sports broadcasting concern (ESPN, SNY) might higher an expert in body language to try to discern whether the Rocket was being truthful. I also wish I could see the unedited version of the segment.

I heard that Clemens had scheduled a press conference for tomorrow. I know we’ll all find out soon enough, but I wonder what the theory is behind that.

Stay tuned…

Moneyball vs. Mitchell Report

Revisiting the Michael Lewis opus, which the writer deems “the most influential book of what’s now officially baseball’s Steroids Era,” has become joined at the hip with the recent release of the Mitchell Report.

In this article from Slate.com, Tom Scocca wonders if Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics and the “protagonist” of Lewis’ analysis of front-office management, consider the possibilities of players “using,” when he assembled his teams:

As Beane says elsewhere in the book: “Power is something that can be acquired…. Good hitters develop power. Power hitters don’t become good hitters.” Oakland, with its limited funds, wouldn’t spend payroll to buy power hitters. Instead, it invested in cheaper, patient hitters. And those hitters, it seems, bought the power themselves.

Did Beane have steroids deliberately or explicitly in mind? He was talking about his hopes of drafting someone who could be the next Jason Giambi. And Jason Giambi, the 2000 American League MVP, was juiced. So was his younger brother and Oakland teammate, Jeremy. So, according to Mitchell, was the A’s other MVP, Miguel Tejada, who asked for and received steroids and testosterone from teammate Adam Piatt. And Oakland’s veteran pickup David Justice (”an extraordinary ability to get on base was more likely to stay with a player to the end of his career than, say, an extraordinary ability to hit home runs”). The Oakland locker room, the report says, was an open-air drug market.

But “Where were the steroids in Moneyball,” asks Scocca? “They were out of sight, where the baseball world wanted them to be. This is not a reflection on Lewis’ reporting, even. The book advanced people’s understanding of baseball, on the terms in which people were willing to think about baseball at the time. It accurately named and explained the batting approach that defines this era: power hitting channeled through strict strike-zone discipline.”

The Slate story includes links to other illuminating pieces on the MR, including Bonnie Goldstein’s “Hot Document of the best material in the Mitchell report” and a group of Slate writers and editors who discussed the implications and innuendos of the report.

When the Mitchell Report gives you lemons, make a video

Clemens reports he will also appar on 60 Minutes after the New Year.

One might be more likely to believe players had not Pete Rose been so adamant in his denials about his gambling on baseball games.

The Amazon Report: The Rocket: Baseball Legend Roger Clemens

Rocket Man: The Roger Clemens Story

Oh, what a tangled web we weave…

I heard about Curt Schilling’s lengthy entry on his Blog about the Clemens/PED. If you print it out, you can put in on your bookshelf, so even though I  normally wouldn’t link to it, here it is.

I’ve heard sports pundits discussing Clemens’ refutation of the allegations found in the Mitchell Report. They pretty much agree that they don’t believe him. Is it because he’s pitched so well so long? Or because he’s perceived as a bit of a jerk by some? Or is it just the residual effects of being lied to so often by so many?

Personally, I don’t understand the mentality of a person who knows damn well he’s done the thing of which he’s been accused but continues to deny, deny, deny. Not only does he make it tough on himself, but for others who may be similarly accused but actually innocent. The court of public opinion has reached a point where it doesn’t believe anyone just on general principle.

What’s wrong with a little cheating between friends?

Nothing, according to Bruce Weber in the Dec. Sunday Times “Week in Review Section,” who offers several examples and quotes to back up his philosophy.

“Cheating in baseball is just like hot dogs, French fries and cold Cokes,” Billy Martin, the pugnacious former player and manager once declared, a sentiment echoed, in an interview, by the baseball historian John Thorn.

“Cheating is not merely countenanced in baseball,” Mr.Thorn said. “It is loved.”

Thorn, writes Weber, noted that “spitballs and hollowed-out bats are on-the-field maneuvers, organic manipulations of the actual rudiments of the game, whereas performance-enhancing drugs originate off the field, taking the outside world where it doesn’t belong.

“Any kind of cheating between the white lines is encouraged,” Mr. Thorn said. “People think it’s clever. But for most fans, baseball is both an emotional and a psychological refuge. When you shake fans up, tell them there was a subtext to a story they weren’t aware of, it makes them feel bad about themselves for being credulous. It’s like someone has dumped on the family scrapbook.”

 

The Mitchell Report “Mug Shots”

Courtesy of The New York Times.

 

Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell

An excerpt from the press conference:

Commissioner Selig’s response:

Who says only Americans really care about the steroids scandal?

One more response:

A commentary by Sports Illustrated’s redoubtable Tom Verducci.  Another from the Business of Baseball Web site. And an in-depth piece from Editor and Publisher, of all places. This one is interesting, because it puts the onus of the problem on the sportswriters who, according to the author of the piece, basically ignored the situation.

SI.com has a slide show of player’s checks submitted as evidence.

Read the entire report here (a PDF file).