Is this an appropriate lede for a high school baseball story?

[Mr. X]

The Only High School We Cover's baseball season and 10-game winning streak ended when league most valuable player Joe Jones flew out with the bases loaded in a 9-8 loss to Another High School in a first-round playoff game Wednesday.

The issue is -- is it right to mention the player who made the last out in the lede of a high school baseball story? I think it is because it is news.

This should not be a discussion of leading with something else in this 9-8 game. I just want feedback on is this appropriate. This also has nothing to do with Little League.

Player is a senior, but that should not change the equation.

He was three for four before making the final out, which should also not change the equation.

 

[Bullwinkle]

You would have used his name if the ball went over the wall, right?

 

[tapintoamerica]

Well said. Of course the name should be mentioned.

 

[playthrough]

Unless the lede in question was "The so-called MVP Jones blew it with the bases loaded", the name is fair game.

 

[93Devil]

In today's Podunk Press...

Missed fly ball costs Podunk


Group AA baseball quarterfinal; Podunk at Bumbledump

Not crazy about it, and I am even less crazy about mentioning an error in the headline.

 

[Mr. X]

I am curious about the reaction to that headline and angle about the missed fly ball. It might be too early for that now.

 

[Football_Bat]

In a 9-8 game, I imagine Another High did more to win it than My High did to lose it. Horrible lede.

 

[Some Guy]

In a 9-8 game, I imagine Another High did more to win it than My High did to lose it. Horrible lede.

Maybe so, but if Another High isn't the school your paper covers, I can understand the need to lead with something on My High. If it's the end of a 10-game winning streak, I might lead with some sort of My High scene-setter or something.

 

[Ace]

Not knowing how the other team scored the 9 runs, I would probably not use the the last out dude unless I talked to him and had quotes from him about it.

 

[chilidog75]

In a 9-8 game, I imagine Another High did more to win it than My High did to lose it. Horrible lede.

You have to write it from the perspective of the team YOU COVER.
Nothing at all wrong with using the name, especially since you're likely going to mention his three other at-bats somewhere else in the story.

Not sure if it's lede-worthy or not because I don't know the details of the game. But the fact that the team's best player, who was already 3 for 3, came up in a one-run game with the bases loaded in the last inning definitely needs to be in the story somewhere.

 

[awriter]

The Only High School We Cover's baseball season and 10-game winning streak ended when league most valuable player Joe Jones flew out with the bases loaded in a 9-8 loss to Another High School in a first-round playoff game Wednesday.

The issue is -- is it right to mention the player who made the last out in the lede of a high school baseball story? I think it is because it is news.

This should not be a discussion of leading with something else in this 9-8 game. I just want feedback on is this appropriate. This also has nothing to do with Little League.

Player is a senior, but that should not change the equation.

He was three for four before making the final out, which should also not change the equation.

I see no choice but to lead with him as long as you're not pinning the loss on him.

 

[broadway joe]

The Only High School We Cover's baseball season and 10-game winning streak ended when league most valuable player Joe Jones flew out with the bases loaded in a 9-8 loss to Another High School in a first-round playoff game Wednesday.

The issue is -- is it right to mention the player who made the last out in the lede of a high school baseball story? I think it is because it is news.

It's not necessarily inappropriate, it's just unoriginal. Why write such a boring, AP-style lede when you could go with something more interesting that also wouldn't seem to blame the loss on the kid?

"League MVP Joe Jones had another fine day at the plate with three hits on Saturday, but when his ninth-inning, bases-loaded drive settled into the left fielders glove, The Only School We Cover's season, not to mention its 10-game winning streak, ended with a 9-8 loss to Another School in a first-round playoff game."

 

[Hackie]

Yeah, I think it's appropriate, but I agree with broadway joe that it's very unoriginal and bland, especially for a playoff contest.

Either way, though, the kiddo's going to be mentioned because he had a hand in the final play.

 

[Ace]

Yeah, I think it's appropriate, but I agree with broadway joe that it's very unoriginal and bland, especially for a playoff contest.

Either way, though, the kiddo's going to be mentioned because he had a hand in the final play.

Yeah but if you lead with him, you should talk to him.

 

[KevinmH9]

It's not needed, but it's appropriate. If this same kid has the game-winning home run, like Bullwinkle said, he would have been mentioned, too. The pitcher who let up that game-winning home run would have likely been mentioned as well.

 

[zeke12]

I don't have an ethical problem, but, from a craft point of view, you ought to be able to tell me something better about how the game was decided than just listing the last play.

I mean, if you're going to do that, at least do it artfully.

Tell me how they had a chance to win it in a back-and-forth game and got their best hitter to the plate and he drove the CF to the wall before the ball nestled into the opponents' glove.

Just writing who made the last out seems like a lazy lede, more than anything else.

 

[albert77]

I do have a problem with it, a big problem. This is a high school kid you're talking about, and intentional or not, you're essentially holding this kid up for ridicule by emphasizing his failure in the lede. Very negative, and if the kid was my child, I'd be calling you out for it. You can work the final out into the middle part of story, or even as an impact ending, and I wouldn't have any problem with it. But not as the lede. And it would never see the light of day at my paper, because my editors would demand a rewrite.

 

[mediaguy]

If you honestly can write that game story without mentioning the kid had the last out with bases loaded in the last inning ... c'mon. If it's your son's tee ball game for the family newsletter, fine, but you're insulting your readers to gloss over that in a newspaper story.

Of course, be balanced. Mention that he had three hits. It's not like the kid went 0-for-5 and stranded 12 runners. There's putting on kid gloves, and there's just silliness on here sometimes.

 

[mediaguy]

Albert, you really bury that? So it's:

It was a sunny day in Hogtown, but eight runs just wasn't good enough for the Fighting Hens.

A crowd of hundreds saw a valiant effort from the hometown team, including three hits from senior MVP Joe Jones, who also had several outstanding catches.

Visiting Hornsnoggle held on for the win when a towering fly was caught in the final inning with the bases loaded. The loss ends a 10-game winning streak for Hogstown.



Is this a high school paper? The yearbook maybe?

 

[playthrough]

I do have a problem with it, a big problem. This is a high school kid you're talking about, and intentional or not, you're essentially holding this kid up for ridicule by emphasizing his failure in the lede. Very negative, and if the kid was my child, I'd be calling you out for it. You can work the final out into the middle part of story, or even as an impact ending, and I wouldn't have any problem with it. But not as the lede. And it would never see the light of day at my paper, because my editors would demand a rewrite.

Funny how the parents will call over those stories, but you can talk to the kid that day and 99.9 percent of the time he/she will be totally fine with it.