Much has been written in the past 24 hours about Manny Ramirez. How much was he fined for tossing Jack McCormick to the floor like a bag of baseballs? Did he purposely strike out when pinch hitting against the Yankees after he was fined? (Can we remember that the ESPN "K Zone" showed at least one of those pitches called for a strike was actually outside?)
What may be more important is to consider where this story originated. Bob Lobel, who was forced into retirement by WBZ-TV in May, made the claim while on sports radio WEEI Friday. Both Boston newspapers have stories about the issue published today. It was all the talk on sports radio yesterday, made it to the major network sports internet sites and picked up by news-wires. And every story cited Bob Lobel as providing the information.
Lobel, a very well known Boston sports reporting legend, just took himself out of the irrelevant column and put himself in a great position to be noticed. Could a phone call from ESPN's "The Sports Reporters" be far behind.
I don't think Lobel made the information up. But I do think you can fashion a source to appear any way you see fit. (The New York Daily News has already demonstrated during the All-Star Game to never let the facts get in the way of a good story!) For all we know, Lobel's source may have said, "Manny was fined between $10,000 and $100,000." Assume the rest.
I like Bob Lobel. I think he has a great sense of humor, always delivered the sports on WBZ in a professional way, and seemed to remember the concept that sports is entertainment and not life and death. He even once gave Bob Ryan a mulligan.
But anytime a story is as much about the reporter as it is about the story itself, I have to ask the question: Was there more to motivate Lobel other than just getting out a significant story? It certainly makes him look a little less irrelevant in the Boston sports world!
Keywords: Bob Lobel, Boston Red Sox, Manny Ramirez
