Rick Cerrone out as Yankees PR guru

I agree with the disagreement. I only dealt with Cerrone a handful of times, but he was always an unhelpful asshole.

 

The upset is that Cerrone lasted as long as he did. He's a pretty volatile guy in an always-explosive environment.

 

Presumably, there's not a PR guy/gal on the planet, outside of a D-III school, where everyone got along with him/her all the time.

Rick has/had an aura about him but he and his staff were never anything less than thoroughly professional with me and the other unwashed half-wits unaffiliated with major media companies. He didn't think it was beneath him to be decent and to give those scraping the bottom of the totem pole an opportunity to do their job. Such traits are far, far too much to ask for across town.

Plus, he gets props for introducing that classic scene from "Animal House" whenever the Pirates were losing in the 9th inning.

 

Some of Cerrone's many predecessors in that job were fine people and/or excellent professionals. The problem was navigating all the politics and bullshit associated with the Yankees. They either got exasperated and quit or were fired over some trifling incident.

In that environment, it's a miracle anyone could last 11 years in that job, especially someone with the kind of temper Cerrone has, and often displays.

 

C'mon now, the Mets banished Lloyd Carroll (sp?) of the Queen's weekly shopper for a full year, just for being a dickhead pain in the butt.

For those of you who don't know who he is, he's the guy who never combed his hair who would parade through the press box (at least whenever I was in town) with photocopies (pulled out of an old plastic bag) of his latest yawner, full of factual errors and nonsensical theories.

He accosted me last month at the U.S. Open in Flushing, too.

Just when I thought I was rid of him. I'm astonished that he'd get credentialed at all, for anything. But that's just me. He's never shy about sitting right in the front row and asking the most inane questions on the planet, though. On the positive side, I don't think I ever saw him sitting with Norm McLean.

 

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C'mon now, the Mets banished Lloyd Carroll (sp?) of the Queen's weekly shopper for a full year, just for being a dickhead pain in the butt.

For those of you who don't know who he is, he's the guy who never combed his hair who would parade through the press box (at least whenever I was in town) with photocopies (pulled out of an old plastic bag) of his latest yawner, full of factual errors and nonsensical theories.

He accosted me last month at the U.S. Open in Flushing, too.

Just when I thought I was rid of him. I'm astonished that he'd get credentialed at all, for anything. But that's just me. He's never shy about sitting right in the front row and asking the most inane questions on the planet, though. On the positive side, I don't think I ever saw him sitting with Norm McLean.
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as in, you think they're the smae person? the funniest line i ever heard about maclean was also about bill shannon,and the fact that the two were rarely in the same building at the same time. the answer to that was, there was only one set of teeth to share, and we'd only see whose ever time it was to wear them.

 

I love Bill Shannon. He's an unintentional caricature.

 

Agreed ballscribe...as opposed to Norman who is just an obnoxious idiot (although occasionally entertaining)

 

If by occassionally you mean never.

Nah, you're right. It's funny to watch Walking Death lurch thru the press room, looking for anything that's not locked down. Media guides and newspapers are not safe when Norm is in the room!

 

Shannon more than earns his keep with his fabulous pitching line announcements. He has a distinctive voice, with a bit of a nasal quality, and through the cheesy press box PA system, always sounds like he's announcing the latest train departures.

He does the pitching line slowly, then speed reads the second version until he comes to the last item which is always stretched for effect: "Seveninningsfivehitsonerunonearnedruntwowalksfivestrikeoutsonebalkonewildpitchand.....one....hit...batsman."

It's classic.

 

It certainly is. I'm always disappointed when he's not on duty. He also rarely makes a mistake as an official scorer.

The French-speaking writers who were on the Expos beat called him "Le report-errrrrrr." They all got a huge kick out of him.

All he's missing is the little press pass tucked into a 1950s hat. A total throwback. Should have cast him in the movie "61". I'm always surprised not to see a manual typewriter in front of him.

He's also quite a nice man, if a bit odd. Unlike MacLean.

 

bill shannon is indeed a throwback -- both a gentleman and a (baseball) scholar. little more needs to be said.

to mention him in the same breath as norm maclean is an injustice of monumental proportions to mr. shannon.