John Perrotto fired by Ogden

Given that he was working for the Nuttings -- who have controlling interest of the Pirates -- can't say I'm surprised:

John Perrotto, the dean of Pittsburgh baseball writers, was fired this week from his job of covering the Pirates for Ogden Newspapers after less than a year. The 17-paper chain is owned by the Nutting family, which also has controlling interest in the Pirates.

Perrotto, never one to hold back his strong opinions, was told the newspapers were "going in another direction.’' He was not told what that direction was or whether his job would be continued.

In addition to covering the team for the newspapers, he also wrote a blog, "Pirates Report.’’ All evidence of that blog has been removed from the Internet.

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/bobsmizik/archive/2009/10/09/nutting-newspapers-fire-perrotto.aspx

Never met the guy, but I've always enjoyed his work. Best of luck, John.

 

Well, Pirates Report is still online. But I guess his blog part of the site was erased.

http://www.piratesreport.com/

 

That sucks. John deserves better.

 

That's the wonder of working for Odgen...

 

John's a good guy. Here's hoping he lands somewhere even better.

 

Wow. I know CNHI had some kind of deal with him and that site too. Poor guy.

 

That photo of him in the windbreaker used by everyone that used him in syndication could have been a bit better, though.

 

Damn. That sucks, John's one of the good ones.

 

yeah, it's the beat reporter's fault the pirates suck. idiots.

 

I wonder if it was more of a "Why are we paying a reporter to cover the shitty team we own, when we could use AP?"

Anyone who's worked for Ogden, or lived in a town with an Ogden newspaper, knows their newspapers have no interest in stirring it up, or offering analysis or opinion.

He did a great job this year, and really offered something different for that chain, as in a real reporter who can write. I bet if the Pirates (he also covered some Indians games) were good this year, he'd still have this job.

 

I'm guessing that when you write that the team owned by your employer should (this is a paraphrase but pretty close to one of his last reports) lower ticket prices because the product sucks will get you fired every time.

 

Perrotto is now EIC of Baseball Prospectus.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3899:baseball-prospectus-announces-sweeping-changes&catid=26:editorials&Itemid=39