Anthony Fenech Book - Off the Record

[Shelton]

Ok, so I know this guy was somewhat controversial during his time as beat writer, but honestly Evan P gives the same vibes. Anyway, in hindsight I think he may have been the best we have had in the past decade. 
 

His new book is an interesting time capsule. I’m probably 1/3 of the way through it and at the very least it provides some interesting insight into the life of a beat writer, and to a team that we all followed during that period. Plus he drags McCosky a couple times so far.

 

I started it on his website for free. I paid amazon the one dollar to get it on my kindle for easier viewing. 
 

Anyone else reading this?

[Tenacious D]

Interesting.  Was he the one that allegedly got sideways with Verlander, leading to his dismissal?

[TigerNation]

12 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

Interesting.  Was he the one that allegedly got sideways with Verlander, leading to his dismissal?

He got into it with Verlander, but that had nothing to do with his dismissal. Verlander refused to let him in the room or something like that, but that was when he had already been traded to the Astros.

[chasfh]

My impression is that the Tigers forced Fenech out because he tried to be too much of a journalist, pointing out faults too directly when the team and players were stumbling as well as digging into inconvenient off-field stuff. I might not be remembering it exactly right but that’s been my takeaway since he’s been gone.

[oblong]

19 minutes ago, TigerNation said:

He got into it with Verlander, but that had nothing to do with his dismissal. Verlander refused to let him in the room or something like that, but that was when he had already been traded to the Astros.

They had a beef from his time with the Tigers over some kind of reporting issue, like on vs off the record.

Then when he came back he said he wouldn't do a press conference with him in the room.  The free press filed a complaint.  It was a legit complaint as it violated the CBA.  But I think Fenech is kind of a douche.  I am still reading his book as I suspect it does have some good stuff in there that's mostly true.

 

[Edman85]

The DSR types went after him pretty hard and found some stuff, right? A bad DUI or a harassment/paternity issue or something. But yeah, any negative coverage of a sports team these days makes you persona non grata. Hell, Stavenhagen said he had some access momentarily revoked when his colleagues reported on the ISE Frat Boy crap.

[gehringer_2]

45 minutes ago, chasfh said:

My impression is that the Tigers forced Fenech out because he tried to be too much of a journalist, pointing out faults too directly when the team and players were stumbling as well as digging into inconvenient off-field stuff. I might not be remembering it exactly right but that’s been my takeaway since he’s been gone.

I remember he was in trouble one day for trying to surreptitiously take video on a iphone of a closed practice in Lakeland. It's one thing to break the rules when something is at stake but he seemed to be a rule breaker in more a juvenile "hey look at me" way. That made him easy to get rid of for other possibly less valid reasons.

Edited 12 hours ago by gehringer_2