By Pat Jordan – Slate Magazine What isn’t clear to me is how we could ever return to those halcyon days when athletes were too dumb and powerless to protect their interests? I also question whether the change Jordan describes is because things have really changed, or is it that when Jordan met Catfish Hunter by the pool he had far more status and represented the preeminent sports magazine of the day (that would be Sports Illustrated). When Jordan called Beckett recently he represented the NY Times Magazine, not really a sports magazine, and he himself is now an older freelance sportswriter, not from Mr. Luce’s empire. In other words, if Rick Reilly (who recently jumped from SI to the ESPN family of sports outlets, as Brent Mussberger described him today during the Belmont Stakes show) wanted to profile Beckett would Josh be as reticent? And might he go through with it anyway, even if he was? Nonetheless, a fun story from a thoughtful baseball writer. Maybe the only former baseball player who is a better writer than Doug Glanville, but I’m being glib.
[This post was rewritten some on June 7th, because I had some better ideas and because the initial presentation was crap. Sorry about that. I hope this helps.]