To the Management, FOX Sports-TV:
I wish to take strenuous issue with a comment made by Mr. Tim McCarver during the Saturday 7/8/06 FOX broadcast of the Red Sox vs. White Sox game. Referring to N.Y. Mets pitcher John Maine, Mr. McCarver claimed that Maine is the only major league player to have had a last name spelled like one of the 50 states (underlining his point by spelling it, no less!). Before going to a commercial break, Joe Buck’s only remark on the matter was an apparently humorous reference to to a minor league player named “Billy Alabama,” with whom I am not familiar.
I am shocked — shocked, I tell you — that Messrs. McCarver and Buck, who evidently fancy themselves the repositories of vast stores of baseball knowledge, would have committed such an egregious error.
The callowness of youth may explain Mr. Buck’s lack of familiarity with Herb Washington, the short-lived designated runner of the Charlie Finley-era Athletics.
Oh … and speaking of the A’s, isn’t there someone named Ron Washington coaching third base for them these days?* Admittedly, his major league playing career spanned the 1980’s, while Buck was still a pup.
Moreover, while apologists for Mr. Buck may also see him as perhaps a bit too wet behind the ears to be familiar with Claudell Washington’s glory years with the Oakland A’s and Atlanta Braves, I feel compelled to note that Mr. C. Washington played for the N.Y. Yankees and the CA Angels in 1990 — after Mr. Buck had reached his legal majority!
However, there can be no such extenuation invoked in the case of Mr. McCarver — a former catcher who is doubtless long enough in the tooth to remember all three Messrs. Washington (any one of whom may well have swiped a base or two at his expense, a factoid which would require a tad more research than I am currently willing to expend on the matter).
Speaking on behalf of loyal Mariners fans everywhere (not to mention the A’s) and all the worthy citizens of the great state of Washington: for shame, Mr. McCarver … for shame!
[* Update: Ron Washington assumed the managerial duties for the Texas Rangers in November 2006]
