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This is strictly for the non-autobiographical pieces of work. Where the author just gets something so wrong or off base, or even something like it's clear where his/her biases lie.
Note, this is for the non-outlandish and wide scope stuff such as Jane Leavy apparently "outing" Sandy Koufax or the idea that Forever Blue was just an O'Malley propaganda rag. Basically nothing that would take this thread into tangents that don't belong in this thread!
Anyway, was just thinking of one in the Big Hair & Plastic Grass book that came out about baseball in the 1970s, and the author tries to tell the origin story of Tug McGraw's famous "YA GOTTA BELIEVE" war cry.
Well, he tells the facts right, but I have a feeling the author's biases towards "stuffy" 1970s era owners kind of shines through and no research on the actual event was done.
Well, from every place I've seen and heard McGraw say the story, M. Donald Grant was trying to give this real cornball pep talk, and McGraw had just come from a session with a sports therapist who was trying to get McGraw into a peppy and happy place (no doubt some chemicals were involved one way or another), and McGraw's jubilation was quite sincere. Hard not to believe that considering McGraw's post-win antics and general upbeat attitude towards life. Anyway, the aftermath was that Grant thought McGraw was mocking him with YA GOTTA BELIEVE, and Ed Kranepool went to McGraw and said "You realize you probably just wrote your ticket out of here" and of course McGraw would be gone by the end of the 1974 season.
Well, in this book, the story is the complete opposite. It's told as if McGraw was completely mocking Grant, and Grant sounding like he lacked any self-awareness and was a naive boob by thinking McGraw was genuine in his enthusiasm, and that's how Ya Gotta Believe ended up as the Mets' rallying cry.
Kind of clear that the research done was just the bare minimum facts, and adding the author's biases about stuffy owners and jocks who are always happy-go-lucky and joking all the time.
Note, this is for the non-outlandish and wide scope stuff such as Jane Leavy apparently "outing" Sandy Koufax or the idea that Forever Blue was just an O'Malley propaganda rag. Basically nothing that would take this thread into tangents that don't belong in this thread!
Anyway, was just thinking of one in the Big Hair & Plastic Grass book that came out about baseball in the 1970s, and the author tries to tell the origin story of Tug McGraw's famous "YA GOTTA BELIEVE" war cry.
Well, he tells the facts right, but I have a feeling the author's biases towards "stuffy" 1970s era owners kind of shines through and no research on the actual event was done.
Well, from every place I've seen and heard McGraw say the story, M. Donald Grant was trying to give this real cornball pep talk, and McGraw had just come from a session with a sports therapist who was trying to get McGraw into a peppy and happy place (no doubt some chemicals were involved one way or another), and McGraw's jubilation was quite sincere. Hard not to believe that considering McGraw's post-win antics and general upbeat attitude towards life. Anyway, the aftermath was that Grant thought McGraw was mocking him with YA GOTTA BELIEVE, and Ed Kranepool went to McGraw and said "You realize you probably just wrote your ticket out of here" and of course McGraw would be gone by the end of the 1974 season.
Well, in this book, the story is the complete opposite. It's told as if McGraw was completely mocking Grant, and Grant sounding like he lacked any self-awareness and was a naive boob by thinking McGraw was genuine in his enthusiasm, and that's how Ya Gotta Believe ended up as the Mets' rallying cry.
Kind of clear that the research done was just the bare minimum facts, and adding the author's biases about stuffy owners and jocks who are always happy-go-lucky and joking all the time.
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