Hal McCoy's run is ending...

[hpdrifter]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/cincinnatireds/entries/2009/08/06/the_hammer_fell_today_and.html

(An excerpt)

The hammer fell today and it hurts like hell.

They’re putting the ol’ baseball scribe out to pasture and if there are teardrops on your screen, well, that’s from me, just an old softie.

My run is over - 37 years of bliss, doing a job that wasn’t a job. It was pure joy and pure fun.

And I wanted you, all my loyal readers and followers over the past 3 1/2 decades, to be the first to know. The run is nearly over.

The newspaper told me today that it will no longer cover the Cincinnati Reds, neither home nor away, beginning next season. And don’t blame the paper. It is the economic times and we’re all suffering. They just can’t afford the more than a quarter of a million dollars a year to send me coast-to-coast.

The Dayton Daily News has been nothing but great to me. How many companies would keep a legally blind employee and furnish that employee with a driver and/or a car service to get him to and from games? The paper did that for me and it certainly didn’t have to do it.

The DDN didn’t have to do that, but it did and I’m so forever grateful, just as I am for the 37 years they permitted me to do what I love to do so much.

So it is off to retirement after this season ends. It isn’t early retirement. I’m 68, soon to be 69. But it isn’t something I want to do. I feel like I still have my fastball at the keyboard and can deal with the curves thrown my way.

I feel as if my fingers have been cut off, but the economic times are harsh and I understand and I’m not angry. I just feel as if something good has ended prematurely, something I’m not completely ready to accept, but must.

 

[BYH]

An absolute shame, and bull****ing**** the paper can't afford to send him around the country covering the Reds.

Not that we needed any more confirmation, but if Hal McCoy isn't safe, absolutely nobody is.

 

[SF_Express]

I understand the economics, but it doesn't matter in this case. Just. Doesn't. Matter.

They should find something to keep him on as long as he wants.

 

[playthrough]

****. I'm a huge Reds fan and McCoy was a significant part of that over the years. Sitting next to him in the press box at spring training many moons ago was a thrill.

And Dayton won't even cover the Reds at home. More newspaper suicide.

 

[Calvin Hobbes]

Nothing is there when I click the link. And when I click for the DDN's latest blog posts, it shows a headline ("It's time to say goodbye") I assume is Hal's post, but that also takes me to a blank page.

Would the paper have yanked it down? I hope that isn't the case.

Never mind. It's there now.

What sad news.

 

[hankschu]

I'm literally in tears. What a great man, a great writer and a great friend.

Good luck, Hal. The business doesn't deserve you.

 

[buckweaver]

Dammit. What a huge, huge loss. :'(

 

[JBHawkEye]

Ditto to every post here.

The question I always ask is how does this make your publication better? Then again, I realize that the people making these decisions don't have the answer, and don't care.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Bad news, especially for people who live in Dayton and like baseball.

 

[MartinEnigmatica]

Bad news, especially for people who live in Dayton and like baseball.

Can't be too many of them out there [/management]

Terrible move. When I first really got into sports journalism and was thinking of reporters to read on a regular basis, Hal's name popped to the top of my list.

 

[BYH]

And Dayton won't even cover the Reds at home. More newspaper suicide.

A perfect summation.

 

[steveu]

Wow, Dayton. When you announced buyouts, I hoped to God you wouldn't treat Hal like ****. And you did. ****, just ****... there are no words to describe this decision.

Rot.
In.
Hell.

 

[2underpar]

I didn't think it could get any worse in this business. Hal McCoy is the authority on the Cincinnati Reds.
Unbelievable.

True to form, Hal musters up a great lede -- The hammer fell today and it hurts like hell.

 

[anotherjrcsurvivor]

Sad day. ... Read Hal every day while in college. ... And sad to see how far the DDN, which once was so proud of having its people seemingly everywhere, has apparently fallen.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I don't want people here to take this the wrong way, but things like this really make me think, "maybe newspapers deserve to die."
Other times, I limit that thought to the people who own them.

 

[Den1983]

Wow, what a shock. I've read Hal for many years and I only consider myself an average baseball fan. He was an excellent read and he will be missed.

Sad to see things slipping away.

 

[buckweaver]

I don't want people here to take this the wrong way, but things like this really make me think, "maybe newspapers deserve to die."
Other times, I limit that thought to the people who own them.

There's no world in which "Hal McCoy not working for us" is a better decision than "Hal McCoy working for us." Not a better business decision, not a better financial decision, not a better editorial decision, not a better community relevance decision. On no level is that a better decision for a newspaper or any other company. There's just no other way to spin it.

Don't blame the economy or "repositioning" or anything else. It's just idiotic, greedy, short-sighted management. Simple as that.

 

[Bubbler]

Hmm. His blog entry was changed from "not home or away" to "not the same way". Hopefully he changed it, not some dopey-ass flunkie worried about the beancounters.

A shame, a real shame, but I am not surprised, which is sad in itself.

 

[Bullwinkle]

I was thinking just now that the DDN staff, out of protest, ought to band together and threaten to resign if Hal is not reinstated. I know that would be incredibly unusual, but it's certainly a gesture that would be appropriate given Hal's incredible run at the paper.

Just one problem with my idea: the DDN would probably fire all of them, too.

 

[MileHigh]

I don't want people here to take this the wrong way, but things like this really make me think, "maybe newspapers deserve to die."
Other times, I limit that thought to the people who own them.

There's no world in which "Hal McCoy not working for us" is a better decision than "Hal McCoy working for us." Not a better business decision, not a better financial decision, not a better editorial decision, not a better community relevance decision. On no level is that a better decision for a newspaper or any other company. There's just no other way to spin it.

Don't blame the economy or "repositioning" or anything else. It's just idiotic, greedy, short-sighted management. Simple as that.

Bingo.

Who next? Edwin Pope? Criminy.