MLB investigating "fake" baseball player ...

[Minutemen]

I found this story fascinating.

Apparently a Milwaukee man used baseball prospect message boards to build a fake persona. He used that to get a few legitimate news organizations to do stories on him. And then used those stories to help him defraud some not-so-smart sports agents out of some money.

I've heard stories like this before, and the timing comes right after that ESPN mess, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Still, interesting stuff.

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/montaouswalton.html?30100

 

[HejiraHenry]

It would not do for me to be on a jury where someone was accused of defrauding an agent.

 

[Todd M. Adams]

I found this story fascinating.

Apparently a Milwaukee man used baseball prospect message boards to build a fake persona. He used that to get a few legitimate news organizations to do stories on him. And then used those stories to help him defraud some not-so-smart sports agents out of some money.

I've heard stories like this before, and the timing comes right after that ESPN mess, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Still, interesting stuff.

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/montaouswalton.html?30100

Wanted to mention that it was me who posted this. I haven't used that old login in quite some time, and don't know how it came up ... using a browser I don't normally use, I guess.

No biggie. But I prefer full disclosure.

TA

 

[LongTimeListener]

If this happened in Milwaukee, it would be a short drive to Wrigley Field to track down a whole bunch of fake players.

 

[RickStain]

I found this story fascinating.

Apparently a Milwaukee man used baseball prospect message boards to build a fake persona. He used that to get a few legitimate news organizations to do stories on him. And then used those stories to help him defraud some not-so-smart sports agents out of some money.

I've heard stories like this before, and the timing comes right after that ESPN mess, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Still, interesting stuff.

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/montaouswalton.html?30100

Wanted to mention that it was me who posted this. I haven't used that old login in quite some time, and don't know how it came up ... using a browser I don't normally use, I guess.

No biggie. But I prefer full disclosure.

TA

No outing.

 

[YGBFKM]

I thought this thread was about Gordon Beckham.

 

[Matt Stephens]

If this happened in Milwaukee, it would be a short drive to Wrigley Field to track down a whole bunch of fake players.

Oh no you didn't (snap, snap, snap)!

 

[linotype]

Montaous Walton couldn't touch Fausto Carmona's heat.

 

[rmanfredi]

I had something similar happen to me as a reporter a few years ago. I had a guy connect with me on Twitter, claiming that he was a war veteran who just got back from Afghanistan and who always wanted to be a sprint car driver. He had got connected with Tim Clauson, whose son Bryan is a top racer (and will be running at Indy this year) and that Tim Clauson was going to help him field a car for local races in the Midwest during the season.

I had a 15-20 minute long phone conversation with him and there were a few things that just didn't quite add up. After I got off the phone, I contacted Tim Clauson through Facebook and asked what he knew about the guy. Turns out that he didn't know anything, other than that he had talked to him for a few minutes at a race one time and given him some really perfunctory advice about starting out in the sport. Certainly a mile short of "helping to field a team" for him.

I called the guy back and left a message for him to call me back since I had talked to Tim Clauson and had a few follow up questions for me. A few hours later I got a Twitter message that was weird and rambling about "ha ha no Tim Clauson isn't going to be fielding a team for me but I'm running late modifieds for sure!" I don't know if the guy was actually a vet or even a real person. I just didn't respond and let the thing die.

 

[Thomas Goldkamp]

This type of thing is becoming more and more common in football and basketball recruiting.

 

[HanSenSE]

Montaous Walton couldn't touch Fausto Carmona's heat.

Then there's the rest of the family:

 

[JPsT]

Pretty fascinating story. I wonder if the guy has any baseball skills at all.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Les Carpenter had a good story about a similar situation in the NFL

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--the-real-phillip-thomas-signed-with-the-eagles--his-sly-imposter-wanted-to-be-on-the-redskins.html

 

[mediaguy]

Sidd Finch had twice his skills.

 

[imjustagirl]

Les Carpenter had a good story about a similar situation in the NFL

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--the-real-phillip-thomas-signed-with-the-eagles--his-sly-imposter-wanted-to-be-on-the-redskins.html

Good story by Double Down.