I thought I ought to pass along this bit of news, so all of you have a sense of what the blog will and won’t be this coming year, and why that is.
Since taking over the LoHud Mets Blog in March 2011, I have been credentialed numerous times by the New York Mets-100 percent of the time my editor here, Sean Mayer, has requested credentials. This is nothing new. In my years covering sports, I have been credentialed by every major sports team in the New York area, writing for ESPN.com, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New York Observer, and many other outlets.
So it was odd that last week, Sean received a call from Jay Horwitz, the Director of Media Relations for the New York Mets, telling him that while the Journal News can continue to receive credentials, the Mets would not be credentialing me.
Sean asked why that was, and Jay responded that the Mets “don’t like his reporting”. The team declined to respond to my multiple attempts to reach them for a fuller explanation.
But I don’t think much investigation is required. As of the final game of last season, I was credentialed. I participated in a conference call with Sandy Alderson in December.
Later in December, Wilpon’s Folly was published. The book details the financial and legal problems facing Met ownership due to their investments with Bernie Madoff. The book was no surprise to the Mets- I reached out to them once I was asked to write the book by Bloomsbury, and spoke many times on background to multiple people within the organization about all specific reporting within the book.
The book’s reporting, incidentally, has not been challenged. It has been reinforced by subsequent articles in The New York Times, Adam Rubin at ESPN.com, and numerous other places. The only response the Mets have provided is to attack me personally.
The Mets can’t very well keep out Adam Rubin, whose right to be in the clubhouse is guaranteed by his membership in the Baseball Writers Association of America. Though I am a full-time sportswriter as my profession, I am ineligible for the BBWAA because I make my living through regular, part-time gigs, not a single, full-time one. So the team is lashing out where it can.
To his immense credit, Sean is standing by me and my work. I am grateful for his support.
From my perspective, little will change. I will continue to write about the stories that I think impact the New York Mets in the most significant ways. That’s the reason much of my reporting has focused on the financial and legal problems facing the team, after all- judging how the team might fix on-field problems while ignoring the problems necessitating the largest one-year payroll decrease in baseball history would do my readers a disservice.
I’ll continue to write about the interesting trends and possibilities on the field as well. Next month, I’ll be at spring training, and will report all that I see. I’ll continue to speak to my contacts within the industry, attend many games, and keep you on top of everything relevant that is happening with the New York Mets.
What the Mets manage to do by keeping me out of the clubhouse is deny me the chance to give you a better sense of the Mets players as people, thus giving the fans a greater stake in the success and failure of the team. Why they think that is somehow to their advantage, I couldn’t possibly say.
I consider it a privilege beyond compare that I get to write about the sports that interest me most for a living. I look forward to doing all I can to make the product of my dream job something that all of you enjoy. But I certainly will not shy away from the topics that I believe need to be addressed, even if, in this case, it has made day-to-day operations a bit more challenging.
31 Comments
Shame on the Mets for doing this. Major League Baseball should not allow the Mets to essentially censor and bully it’s beat writers/media into positive story. This happened with the Knicks media during Isiah Thomas’ leadership and the backlash was extreme. Hopefully it’ll be the same way here. Not a Mets fan but I fully support you Howard as someone that’s honest with his audience and doesn’t kiss rear-end just to get access. #FreeHoward
Sorry Howard.
Welcome to my world.
Mack
Access can be denied. Good, honest reporting and incisive analysis cannot be derailed.
The Wilpons and their thug mentality are a disgrace. I used to go to 10-12 games a year. Last year I went to two. In 2012 I will go to zero. I love that we finally have management with brains, but until there is an ownership change I will boycott the stadium.
Cannot disagree with post above. I have loved The Mets since I was 9 and the 1969 championship hooked me in for life. I can honestly say that I will never again set foot inside Citifield again until the Wilpon’s sell the team. They have held an entire fan base hostage because of their financial issues. It’s disgusting
Pretty typical Mets “PR”. Keep up the good work Howard, don’t let the worst ownership group in professional sports get you down.
Thanks for your support, everyone. Won’t let this stop me, I assure you.
Congratulations, Howard. You’ve proved that you’re more right than you know. If they had nothing to hide then they wouldn’t feel the need to continue to try to maintain their stranglehold on the situation.
Yeah, more reason not to give that franchise my money. The Wilpons need to either get their act together or get out of town. I predict that you will have credentials with the next two weeks though Howard – I came to your blog via Circling the Bases. Since this news is now there, more people will write about it, further annoying the Wilpons, who ultimately will probably order you credentialed just to make the problem go away. It is very possible also that someone at the Wilpons level or close to it made off-hand comments about denying you credentials and some boot licker in the PR office decided to try to make a splash by running with the ball. If that is the case, the whole thing will crumble much sooner. Good luck!
Yet another embarrassing PR gaffe by an organization infamous for them.
Keep up the great work, Howard.
As an aspiring reporter, this makes me absolutely sick. I’m sorry to hear this, and it is essentially censorship.
Leave it to the Wilpons.
I guess the Wilpon’s are not use to hearing the truth about their crumbling empire. I guess they will be surprised when Mets fans ban acess of their hard earned money from buying Mets tickets this year
Fred and Jeff Wilpon can go straight to hell. I’m done with Citi Field until they are gone.
I cannot stand the Wilpons. They have completely taken all the fun out of rooting for this team. if they really cared about it and the fans, they would sell as fast as they could instead of selfishly hanging on. Sorry for your troubles, Howard, but I’m not surprised.
The Mets Public Relations Dept. ironically besmirches their own image. They get smug satisfaction from retribution on one person, Howard, while simultaneously embarrassing themselves and alienating hundreds or thousands as a result. Truly erudite. Not.
Proving that access to a team is a privilege and not a right. It is written on the back of every press pass. Sorry you are in this situation, but every business has the right to deny access as they see fit for any reason. That is THEIR right.
DMK2120 (aka Saul Katz): No one said the Wilpons lacked a legal right to do this. The question is whether it is right or wrong. And it is most surely wrong to deny access to a reporter because you don’t like their stories, choosing to condition access on sucking up.
Did Nazi’s ever go away?
Howard, you are a class act and I enjoy your work immensely. Look forward to hearing you when you are on with Mike Silva …. just another reason to boycott Citifield until the failed Wilpon Era comes to an end.
Howard, this is terribly nonsensical of the Mets.
Sadly though this isn’t without precedent in sports, or even in New York, for that matter. This actually happened about a year ago to Chris Botta of Islanders Point Blank. He talked negatively about the team and was blacklisted by the powers that be.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was the inspiration for this, considering the proximity of the two teams. The kicker with Botta’s situation was that it was done despite his being part of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association.
This has the aroma of Jeff Wilpon all over it. It speaks for itself.
This move by the Mets smacks of insecurity. It’s the actions of a pair of small, small men. You stick to your guns, Howard.
Boycott Sterling in 2012! We as fans can do something about this. Don’t spend a single dime on Citi Field, Mets merchandise or anything at all that will put money towards Sterling debt. We as fans have an obligation to stand up for what is right. Vote with your dollars, and force ownership to sell. Let’s go mets!
It seems that the Met blogger community is a pretty close knit group and the Mets gave the appearance last season of wanting to keep them more involved and visible. Perhaps some of the other bloggers can take advantage of that visibility to protest your exclusion during any and all conference calls or blogger events. Occupy!!
Ugh! As a professional journalist, this sickens me. As a Mets fan, it does not surprise me and only helps push me out the door. After 30 years of rooting for this team, I have had enough. I don’t care what people say: if the Wilpons aren’t gone by Dec. 4, 2012, the anniversary of Reyes signing with the Marlins, then I am gone — and I will be gone for good.
The goal is to keep your fanbase, not lose them Wilpons, and you already cost yourselves a large chunk by driving Reyes out of town. Keep up the good work gentlemen. Enjoy having a Citi Field that is half-full on Opening Day. What’s next, when Gary Cohen talks about the turnout, is he going to be censored too?
Dozens of letters on this issue about the Mets’ public relations bruhaha and one or two in the entire rest of the blogs about the game on the field. How did all these contributors suddenly show up over a stringer who can no longer chow down at the Mets’ groaning board?
Stupid move. They should read Real-Time Marketing PR by David Meerman Scott or look at what happened with the NYPD & Ray Kelly/Muslim flap or Susan B. Komen/Planned Parenthood scandal to see it makes no sense to do things like this. Shades of Omar Minaya yelling at Adam Rubin two seasons ago after the firing of Tony Bernazard. http://myyouchoose.com/318/making-mistakes-and-making-things-right
I have been a Mets fans since ‘62 and will be one until the end.
I remain a fan these days despite of the Wilpons, not because of them – I know of many other Mets fans that feel the same way. If the Wilpons really wanted to prove that they “love” the Mets, they would sell the team to someone who knows how to be successful at this game since all the Wilpons are good at apparently is incompetence.
I’m with Howard.
Reminds me of when Tim McCarver left the Mets because, it was reported, he was too critical of the Mets and Strawberry’s outfield positioning. Doesn’t that pre-date the Wilpon’s sole ownership? And you can’t blame Bloomsbury because they asked you to write about it. After all, you could have rejected the assignment or written it in a more sympathetic light starting with the title, e.g. “Wilpon’s Dilemma,” etc. So I guess the bottom line is “you pay your money; you take your chance.” Good luck Howard. You’ll be back. You can’t keep a good man down.
While the Wilpons have behaved disgracefully, I place this debacle entirely on Jay Horwitz. He’s been the Mets’ PR man since the Stone Age, and he’s grown very stubborn and very imperious. He claims to act in the Mets’ best interest, but it’s really a pathetic attempt by a pathetic old man to hang on to power and importance. He thinks it’s still 1969, and he thinks he can singlehandedly return sportswriting to the days when he could control what the press was reporting. He’d tell sportswriters what they could and couldn’t write—those who didn’t obey had their access pulled. That doesn’t fly anymore. The Mets need to give him his gold watch and hire someone who’s savvy about the Internet and new media, instead of letting a dinosaur manage the team’s image. It’s the 21st Century, Jay—you should take your 19th Century thinking down to a golf course in Florida and stay there.
Keep up the good work, Howard. There are far too many Wilpon apologists out there who attack the messenger and use the power of their blogs to try to skew public opinion by limiting speech of those who see credible evidence of criminality in the Wilpon/Katz behavior. Your reporting, and Adam Rubin’s, has been invaluable.