Facts? Plaschke don't need stinking fact

[MTM]

In a column today about an 87-year-old Dodgers scout who had salary cut 56 percent, Bill Plaschke wrote:
"As a 5-foot-6 shortstop from Staten Island, N.Y., Genovese was undrafted but fought his way through 22 years in the minor leagues and one at-bat in the major leagues, playing and managing sandwiched around three years in the Army."

Everyone in that era was undrafted. Plaschke, or a copy editor, should have known that.

It seemed like a cheap ploy to elicit sympathy for the guy, in typical Plaschke style.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke12-2009nov12,0,2601997,full.column

 

[Joe Williams]

In a column today about an 87-year-old Dodgers scout who had salary cut 56 percent, Bill Plaschke wrote:
"As a 5-foot-6 shortstop from Staten Island, N.Y., Genovese was undrafted but fought his way through 22 years in the minor leagues and one at-bat in the major leagues, playing and managing sandwiched around three years in the Army."

Sounds like maybe he was drafted after all.

 

[WaylonJennings]

Dodgers replaced him with a robot or a computer, I'm guessing?

 

[HanSenSE]

A good copy editor could have caught that ... oh yeah ...

 

[spnited]

In a column today about an 87-year-old Dodgers scout who had salary cut 56 percent, Bill Plaschke wrote:
"As a 5-foot-6 shortstop from Staten Island, N.Y., Genovese was undrafted but fought his way through 22 years in the minor leagues and one at-bat in the major leagues, playing and managing sandwiched around three years in the Army."

Everyone in that era was undrafted. Plaschke, or a copy editor, should have known that.

It seemed like a cheap ploy to elicit sympathy for the guy, in typical Plaschke style.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke12-2009nov12,0,2601997,full.column

And according to baseball-reference, it was 1 at-bat but 2 plate appearances in the majors.
And 15 seasons in the minors, including three in the Mexican league. He was player/manager for parts of 5 seasons in the minors and mexico and managed four more years in the minors after he stopped playing.

 

[cranberry]

In a column today about an 87-year-old Dodgers scout who had salary cut 56 percent, Bill Plaschke wrote:
"As a 5-foot-6 shortstop from Staten Island, N.Y., Genovese was undrafted but fought his way through 22 years in the minor leagues and one at-bat in the major leagues, playing and managing sandwiched around three years in the Army."

Everyone in that era was undrafted. Plaschke, or a copy editor, should have known that.

It seemed like a cheap ploy to elicit sympathy for the guy, in typical Plaschke style.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke12-2009nov12,0,2601997,full.column

Kind of nitpicking, don't you think? I really don't see where the mistake affects the overall story that much.

With that said, the column's a bit over the top. I kind of doubt this guy is bringing a whole lot to the table at his age.

And does anyone else get the impression Plachke wants to be Simers just a little bit?

Ten grand, and Jamie now doesn't have to worry about skinny jeans.

Ten grand, and now Frank can go the extra mile on that Gulfstream.


Anyway, Genovese played at the same high school as my dad so I'll pretend to be outraged on his behalf.

 

[dooley_womack1]

That Poindexter didn't start this thread is the upset of the century.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's nitpicking...

Plaschke picks up that monster baseball reference book, looks the guy up and sees he was undrafted, which technically, he was not and he writes it.

And as far as the desk is concerned, that's anything but common knowledge.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Sorry, but it should be part of a sports copy editor's knowledge base that Rick Monday was the first draft pick in major league baseball's first entry draft.

 

[cranberry]

It should have been common knowledge to Plaschke and the desk and I'm disappointed nobody picked up on my one-sentence-per-paragraph salute to Plaschke.

 

[Double Down]

Some will argue that the Dodgers are being charitable by continuing to employ an 87-year-old man. But like Evans said, scouting is different. Age is an asset. Experience is irreplaceable.

I think somewhere Michael Schur just read this and his head exploded.

I love Bill as a feature writing columnist, but he sure does love those grizzled old scouts.

 

[poindexter]

From the column:

Genovese doesn't use a computer..

Oh, for Pete's sake. What the **** is up with Plaschke, old scouts, and computers?

 

[poindexter]

He's 87, and yet to sign a Dodger whose made the majors. Maybe at half the salary, they are overpaying him.

Maybe his handwritten notes are being delayed by the pony express.

 

[Della9250]

I don't know if it's nitpicking. When you read someone's undrafted, it sounds like no one wanted him/he was overlooked/all these others were perceived better, which is one I think the story was trying to convey.

But if there was no draft at that time and it was a free for all to sign anyone, then I don't think it's right to say he went undrafted, because everyone reading it in 2009 will assume that there was a draft, because that is how sports teams have gotten their players for decades now.

 

[BB Bobcat]

I don't mean at all to disrespect the guy, because I used to cover prep baseball in his area and he was a legend.

However, at age 87, I doubt he's doing more than making a few token reports on players who are within 20 minutes of his house. It's probably more of an honorary position to thank him for his years of service. I have trouble feeling too bad for him for getting his "salary" cut.

 

[Double J]

A good copy editor could have caught that ... oh yeah ...

A good researcher/reporter shouldn't need the desk to save him or her as far as factual and historical information are concerned.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Sorry, but it should be part of a sports copy editor's knowledge base that Rick Monday was the first draft pick in major league baseball's first entry draft.

Especially in L.A., where Monday was key for a World Series championship team, and has been a team broadcaster for years.

After reading the lead, I stopped reading and pulled up firejoemorgan.com. I really miss that site.

 

[SF_Express]

And does anyone else get the impression Plachke wants to be Simers just a little bit?

I need to get to bed, but this thread caught my attention. So many issues, so little time.

First of all cranberry, with all respect, this particular line might be one of the silliest I have ever read on this site.

I've worked with both guys, and am a fan in different ways of both, and Plaschke has been doing Plaschke since 1980. Simers has been doing Simers, with some evolution, since 1975.

Plaschke writing the lines you cited because he wants to be Simers? Geezus. I can find you a Plaschke high school story from 1981 that uses the same devices.

Second, I guess I'm a crappy copy editor -- all evidence and reviews, I thought, to the contrary -- because I did NOT know that Rick Monday was the first draft pick ever, and I probably would NOT have caught that this guy couldn't have been drafted. Sorry, dooley -- I guess I wasn't plugged into the same basic sports copy editor knowledge base.

You can make the case that as much as Plaschke does baseball, and knows about L.A. baseball, that he might have known. But except for one word, basically Plaschke was saying that he wasn't signed by a big-league organization as a potential star and kicked around in the minors pretty much his whole career. And so -- and yeah, I know, there are words, but also WORDS -- this whole thread is about one extraneous and, yes, incorrect word that somebody should have caught -- all two of the copy editors the Times probably had working that night.