Fighting Words Q&A: Theo Epstein

Theo Epstein's approach to his job, post-return to the general manager position, makes more time for business and less time for answering reporters' questions. Photo from this site.

With the Red Sox preparing for their annual October vanquishing of the Angels (that’s right, I said it), there’s no better time than now to unveil the most pivotal interview I conducted in the writing of Fighting Words—a Q&A with Theo Epstein, who has been the architect of six playoff teams in his seven years as general manager.

As I noted in my Q&A with Bruce Allen last month, the follow-up with Epstein was the interview I needed to tie everything together. The book could have been written without his additional input, and at some point it would have had to have been written, but I can’t lie: Some nights I wake up in a cold sweat thinking the interview still hasn’t happened and that I’m still waiting on it to finish the book.

Here’s how I described the process to Bruce in our interview:

Landing Epstein for a follow-up (I interviewed him twice, once for a magazine feature and another time about the media, in 2004) was quite a delicate procedure that took nearly two years. Obviously, he really reduced his profile following the events of 2004 and 2005. He never definitely declined my requests, but he made it clear he was reluctant to talk about the media and to contribute to the celebrity culture that surrounds so many media members. I was beginning to think it wasn’t meant to be when he called me during a rain delay on the final day of the 2006 season and I missed the call because I had my phone on silent in the press box.

Finally, during a series against the Royals in July 2007, I saw him in Terry Francona’s office before Francona’s daily presser. When all the reporters went upstairs around 4, Epstein hung around talking to someone in the office, so I waited right outside the locker room door, figuring my best and last chance to get him would be when there was no one else around. He walked out, I made my pitch, said my book was about why the media was such a part of the story in Boston and that his input would be incredibly valuable. He agreed to the interview and it ended up being the one I really needed to tie everything together. Everyone knew Theo had changed since taking over as GM, but why? It wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting if I didn’t have supporting quotes and evidence from him.

I’m sure that if I started this project in 2005, instead of 2004 when I got to talk to him a few times under more relaxed circumstances, I never would have gotten him for such an in-depth interview, or even written this book.

Along those lines: The book, and in particular the chapters about the post-’04 era, would not have been complete without the contributions Epstein made during the July ’07 interview. I thank Epstein for his access and hope you enjoy this interview.

J.P. Ricciardi said that Boston is a great place to grow up as a baseball fan but a tough place to play and work. Do you agree with that assessment?

I think the nature of the media here adds an additional challenging element to what’s already a challenging job. It’s nothing that can’t be handled.

In 2004 you said that you thought you could “…provide a lot of answers” about what you and the front office are doing and that “…five percent of the stuff is best not publicized.” Has that ratio changed at all?

I think the ratio’s probably changed a little bit, because there’s more competition and I think lower standards in general among some media members. So information that could be perfectly innocent otherwise can be used in a way that’s detrimental to the club and to the benefit of that media outlet. So we don’t want to risk anything. We don’t want to risk putting out information that can be used in a fashion that’s going to harm our ultimate goal.

Has the ratio changed at all because of competitive reasons?

That’s always been a constant. I just think that a few years ago, there was a certain expectation that information would be used a certain way. There’d be a certain level of understanding, decorum. And I think with the increased presence of the Internet and the general sort of lack of standards that exist—I’m not casting a wide net, but [in] certain sections of the media world—it really limits the mount of trust we can have when we put out general information.

Has that media world changed since you’ve been here?

Yeah. Again: More outlets, more blogs, fewer editors, lower standards for accuracy, accountability makes it a little bit more difficult. And it’s a shame, because that limits the amount of interaction we have, the information we can put out there with the people who still have high standards and are still accurate and still do their jobs very well. That’s the way it is.

Upon returning, you said there was a lot that could be learned from how the Patriots disseminated information. What did you mean by that?

That was really more of an in-house [thing]. Some things that are happening internally—we had too many people with access to information, too many people who could share information for their own benefit. We just kind of tightened up our ship a little bit, made our message a little bit more uniform. It’s been helpful.

Have you been more cautious with injury information?

[pauses] Not more so injury information than other information. I just think that, these days, it makes sense just to make sure everyone’s on the same page internally. Get [out] the information, if there’s some official means, rather than answer a question here or there and letting it trickle out. Because, again, [of] the instantaneous nature of some media.

How much more cautious are you as opposed to when you took over as general manager prior to 2003?

I’m not any more cautious. I just think that since the environment has changed, I’ve changed with it.

Does the size of this market make it difficult to be as open and as accessible as you’d like?

To me, it all boils down to what’s in the best interests of the team. And I don’t mean that from a marketing standpoint. I mean that from a wins and losses standpoint. Because, to me, that’s ultimately the most important thing. I think when we win, we’re popular. People are happy and that’s the bottom line. In a perfect world, yes, there is a way to be open and completely honest and still protect the vital information and allow us time to do what’s the most important parts of our job. I guess you could call that ideal.

But the reality is we’re in a slightly different age and we’re not living in an ideal world. There’s a lot of information, there are some people that use information in a way to promote their media outlets that prove to be sort of obstacles to us achieving our goals—not in any big way, but in a way that adds up over time. And so we’re just trying to make sure that we are aware of that when we interact with the media. And I think, in a way, it might make me personally less popular. But I couldn’t give a [expletive] about that. I care about protecting the interests of the organization, which is to win games.

Are you purposely maintaining a lower profile now than you did at the beginning of your tenure?

Yeah, yeah. I definitely do that on purpose. Because one, it’s hard to do my job when I’m available every day to every writer. So I just try to be around less. And I think one thing that I found and that others found is life goes on, you know? I think if people really need me to answer questions, they can find me. I’ll always respond to phone calls or emails or setting up an appointment or anything along those lines. Life goes on. It’s not the most important thing in the world to answer the same question 45 times from 45 different writers every day about injury status that’s the exact same as it was yesterday and is the same as it’s going to be tomorrow.

Ultimately, it’s not about me. It’s not about any one individual. It’s about the Red Sox and there’s plenty to write about over the course of nine innings and what our organization is, our competitiveness and our ability to try and win a World Series every year.

Do you think it’s tough for players to differentiate between the different types of media?

Yeah, yeah, Because I know it can be tough for us, and we have more time to try and hash through it. So for a player, certainly, it’s tough for them. And they don’t have an obligation to be able to tell 60 different people apart, you know? [laughs]

Do you think your renewed cautiousness has led or could lead to a strain with the reporters covering the team?

Again: I think people know where to find me. I just think that the thing about instant accessibility is that people always turn to whoever’s right there to answer a question. Ninety-nine percent of the quotes that are used are pretty mundane. Anyone can give them. If someone has a question they really want me to answer—if I can do so without compromising the interests of the organization—I know I’ll be there to answer that question. If not, then [talk to former director of media relations] John Blake. Email me. Call me. I’ll find a way to answer the questions. I don’t think it should cause strain. If it did, then life goes on.

Looking back on your first year or two as general manager, do you wish you knew then what you know now about the media relations part of the job?

No, I think it was a little bit different time. And my first attempt was to be sort of as open and honest as possible as I could while protecting the interests of the organization. That proved to be a.) extremely difficult, b.) extremely time-consuming and c.) as things changed in the media world, not possible. So now I’ve taken an approach that allows me to do my job. And as we said, life goes on with the media. There’s always someone else to fill up a notebook.

How do you go about preparing rookies for the media in Boston via the rookie development program?

We run through the media—what to say, suggesting approaches to dealing with it, about being accountable, accessible [and] cooperative while protecting themselves at the same time. I think our guys were lucky that guys come through Lowell, Portland and Pawtucket. By the time they get up here, they have a pretty good feel for what awaits them.

Do you think the demands on the time of managers, general managers and players in Boston is unique to Boston?

I don’t think it’s unique to Boston. I think it’s certainly as much of a factor here as it is anywhere else. I think there’s levels of intensity. Boston is, along with probably New York, Philly at times, one of the most intense. It’s not that big a deal. I just—if I have an extra 45 minutes a day to look through other teams’ farm systems or watch a minor league game on TV or do something else that’s going to hopefully help us make a good decision and someone else can kind of fill up a writer’s notebook. If that writer really has a question for me, they can find me. I think that’s fine. I think that’s a good solution.

Lastly, what did you think of the coverage of your resignation and return following the 2005 season?

I didn’t, really. That coverage of that winter—I just think there’s not a lot to write about in the winter. I don’t think I’m that important that I could generate that much coverage. But again, there’s no games going on. I think if something like that happened during the season, it would have been more of a secondary story.

Email Jerry at jbeach73@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jerrybeach.

Fighting Words Q&A: Gabe Kapler

Gabe Kapler's a pretty interesting guy, In the five years since this interview was conducted, he has won a World Series ring, played in Japan, returned to the Red Sox, suffered a torn Achilles tendon, returned to the Sox, retired to become the manager of the Sox' Single-A affiliate in Greenville, unretired, signed with the Brewers, participated in the 2008 playoffs and played with the Rays. Whew. Photo from this site.

A quick note here to offer my sincere and appreciative thanks to Bruce Allen for reviewing Fighting Words and conducting a Q&A with me yesterday at Boston Sports Media Watch. Thanks, too, to Bruce for linking the Derek Lowe Q&A, and if you arrived here via that route, welcome. I hope you like what you see, and I hope you’ll stop by beginning Tuesday, when, I’ll post in two or three parts the Patriots chapter from Fighting Words that ended up on the cutting room floor.

In the meantime, check out this Q&A with Gabe Kapler that I conducted in 2004. I’m a day late to coincide with Kapler and the Rays hosting the Sox, but Kapler’s take on the positivity of the press and the advantages of playing in a market where fans have an insatiable thirst for information about their athletes is pretty timely given the Sox’ recent dissatisfaction with what they perceive as negative coverage. Happy Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the burgers and dogs.

Did you ever participate in any media training seminars?

I remember we had a rookie development program, I think in ’98—how to deal with the media and how to handle certain situations, to avoid [certain] questions and how to not be manipulated by questions and how to manipulate the situation so you get across the points that you want to get across. What else did they teach us there? There was also [something on] how to avoid the pitfalls of being out on the town and getting photographed—not necessarily photographed, but being confronted by people—and learning how to not be reactive.

What was the media like at your previous stops: Detroit, Texas and Colorado?

It was a different world. You knew everybody by name, there was a familiarity there that you don’t have here, because, basically, there’s two competing newspapers: Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. So if you have a conversation with a reporter, you know where it is [going to appear]. Whereas here, it can [appear] anywhere. Detroit was a little bit closer to here. Not nearly the same level. As far as Colorado, it wasn’t even close.

What had you heard about the Boston media before you played here?

In the clubhouse, I’d heard it would get crowded at times and you had to be careful, because my understanding from outside sources—which I found to be entirely untrue—was that the media’s happier when you’re losing than when you’re winning. I haven’t found that to be an accurate depiction at all.

Why do you think that is the case?

I think that comes from there being less to write about when [the Sox lose]. I think that, truly, a lot of the writers around here are Red Sox fans, whether they admit it or not.

A lot of the beat writers and columnists are from the area. Do you think they shoulder the team’s struggles and failures more than reporters in other cities?

I think that’s more the fans caring so passionately and deeply. They want to win so badly They say ‘We’re going to be very disappointed when we lose.’ They’re very open about being disappointed when you lose. But [they’re] always going to care.

Do you ever marvel at how the Patriots are in the midst of a legendary run yet the Sox get more coverage?

It’s pretty amazing. It’s pretty exciting It’s nice to be a part of. Whether I play one more year with the Red Sox, no more years with the Red Sox or 10 more years with the Red Sox, I will always cherish the experiences that I had here. Remarkably rewarding.

You’ve become pretty popular with the media. Do you see yourself as a team spokesperson-type of player?

I don’t think that’s accurate—at least I don’t see it. Maybe I’m off, but I don’t feel like I talk to the media more than anybody else. I don’t feel at all offended by that [characterization]. I’ve never—I don’t notice myself talking to the media more than anybody else I could be wrong. Other people have more [press responsibilities] than me.

What do you remember about the relationship between the press and the Sox—and in particular Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra—last year?

Very little, believe it or not. There’s been so much positive that’s gone on here that it’s been difficult to think of [negatives]. Pedro’s talking to the media now and Manny [as well]. Nomar was real particular about when he talked.

Is the passion for baseball in Boston a good thing because it allows someone like you and your wife an outlet to try and help others by telling the story of how she was abused by a former boyfriend?

There’s no doubt about it. It’s unbelievable. It’s given me a forum to talk about important issues that you never would have been able to talk about. And because of it, we’re starting a really great [charity] that we wouldn’t have been able to start [otherwise]. I’m very thankful for the opportunity.

We had talked about starting a foundation and we have this fundraiser called Picnic in the Park here. Jane Doe is an organization that supports women in abusive relationships and their rehabilitation. Lisa said she had been in that type of relationship, they embraced her [and] she opened up about it. She started to speak about it, we talked about how perfect it would be if we could get something going.

And the rest has become history. She’s spoken to five or six high schools in the last two weeks. She’ll get [a company] called the National Jean Company that’s affiliated with Jane Doe and raise money for Jane Doe. Really remarkable. We really have Boston to thank for that, because they listen where nobody else really cares. It’s great to be a member of the Rockies, but you have an issue and you’re not Todd Helton, it might not get heard, where here, it’s heard.

Email Jerry at jbeach73@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jerrybeach.

Fighting Words Q&A: Kevin Millar (2004)

Kevin Millar spent a lot more time on the other side of the microphone during his three years with the Red Sox. Photo from this site.

Below is the first of a couple Q&As I’d like to post with Kevin Millar, the loquacious former Red Sox first baseman who arrives in town tonight with the Blue Jays for a three-game series. Millar, who was kind enough to pen the foreword for Fighting Words, was incredibly cooperative and always willing to answer another question or two for this book both during and following his three seasons with the Sox.

This was conducted July 22, 2004, before a doubleheader against the Orioles, and my inability to use a lot of this in a book that wasn't finished for another four years doesn't diminish the insight Millar offered on the relationship between the media and the Red Sox and the dynamic therein.

Five years later, though, the most interesting thing to me is the pretty impressive sense of prescience Millar displayed in asking for patience with both himself and the struggling Sox. Millar, who had been coming under heavy criticism for his quiet production at the plate, was less than 12 hours removed from hitting a homer and going 3-for-3 in a performance that raised his average eight points to .277. He hit four homers in the next two games, including three against the Yankees July 23, and hit .336 with 13 homers, 49 RBI and 17 doubles in 211 at-bats beginning July 21. He hit .269 with five homers, 25 RBI and 19 doubles in his first 297 at-bats of the season.

Millar also implored fans (and media) not to worry about the Yankees and to think of October and how the Sox stacked up to the Yankees in a short series. Suffice to say he was proven correct three months later. Hope you enjoy:

What had you heard about the media in Boston before joining the Red Sox?

Just you’ve got to be careful. It’s known around baseball and around sports [as] probably the toughest media you’re going to deal with. The thing about here is you’ve got one paper or two papers that have six writers that write for the same paper, so you’re going to have six different stories every day. You’ve got three or four people writing for the Herald, three or four people that write for the Globe. Where in different cities—other than New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago—you’re going to find one page, one writer.

Was it a culture shock for you going from Florida to here?

You deal with about four or five reporters there in Florida. Here, you’re going to deal with 25 to 30. It’s just one of those things that you deal with. I think, if you’re accessible every night when you’re doing good or doing bad, I think they’re going to respect you. I’ve never had a problem with the media. Just be accountable for your actions each and every night. There’s going to be good articles, there’s going to be bad articles. But that’s their job.

Do you read the papers or pay attention to the coverage?

No. One thing I don’t do. I’ve never got caught up in that. I read the USA Today, but you don’t want to get caught up in stuff because your feelings will get hurt. First of all, because you’re a human being. And second of all, you’re never as good as the good articles are about you or as bad as they are. You’ve just got to kind of find a happy medium. I get up and read the USA Today and look through box scores from other guys. I don’t get caught up in the local press. Obviously, someone says there’s an article about you, I hear about it.

Can you describe what happened last summer when you asked everyone to “Cowboy Up?”

I was upset at the negativity that everybody wants to put around this club or the past and 1918. That’s when I originally wanted the to ‘cowboy up’ and say to enjoy these guys, enjoy the team, don’t worry about all the negative. There’s 20 bright spots and maybe five black spots. They want to dwell on the black spots. And I don’t fall for that bad press sells papers. Good press sells papers also. There’s always going to be a negative and that’s what’s wrong with society at times. But there’s also good stories that [will get] people [to] sit and watch and listen and read.

It doesn’t always have to be a negative, gloomy day. But that’s the difference between people. You have good reporters and you’re going to have [crappy] reporters. Just like players—you have good guys and some of the guys [aren’t].

Is it tough for players to forget an organization’s past?

Well, historical stuff doesn’t really faze me at all, because I wasn’t alive. The big thing is you have to have a short-term memory as a player. It’s day-to-day each day, so it’s not hard to forget about anything. I’m struggling, I’m not going to hit 12 homers in one night to turn those numbers around. It takes time to turn numbers around. As soon as you start swinging the bat well, the numbers just aren’t going to fly out there. It takes a month to get those numbers back to healthy. So as a player, no, it’s not hard.

When you catch some criticism, as you did for last year’s "Cowboy Up" statement, do you ever think it’d be easier just to give clichés to reporters?

Yeah. No reason to express your true feelings, because it always comes out wrong and then you’re the bad guy. So most of the time, yeah, they’re all clichés anyway. What goes on in here is our business and you do the best you can. But I happen to be a guy who wears my heart on my sleeve and I’ve come out looking like the bad guy. Sometimes it’s easier just to answer the right question the right way. It doesn’t benefit you either way. Let someone else be the bad guy.

Like for instance, last year when they were on Derek [Lowe]. I called them over here and went [off] on them and a couple day later I went off on the media and it was all ‘Millar can’t handle the media, Millar’s starting to tell the fans they’re too negative’ and all of a sudden I was turning into this big bad guy. [He’s] like wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. All I was basically saying was ‘Lay off Derek, we need him.’ He came up with a blister, we ended up losing [a game] and they were all over him. I was basically saying ‘We need Derek.’ Sure enough, we did get him in the fifth game of the playoffs and all of a sudden everything was all right.

But the media, it’s 162 playoff games. We lose last night, it’s the end of the world. We win tonight, we’re getting better. Baseball’s a long year, man. I can’t tell you if we’re going to go 50-10, I can’t tell you that the Yankees aren’t going to go 25-25. I don’t know, it could happen, you know? [All] anyone wants to talk about is ‘Is the season over?’ It’s [expletive] 70 games left. Baseball’s crazy [stuff]. We could go on a rampage [or] just keep plugging away. Obviously, second week of September, you’re right around the corner. Right now we’re just in July. This team just got healthy a week-and-a-half ago.

Do you sense more pressure in the short-term from media here than in Florida?

This is definitely different. The media here thinks they’re general managers. Everyone wants to be a GM instead of a fan or a writer. Everyone’s got all the answers. When I was in Florida, we were young and we were losing, we were a .500 team, but we were so young and talented pitching-wise. [The] potential [was a theme of] a lot of the articles, and obviously it worked out because they’re champions last year. But I was there when Beckett was 20 and Brad Penny’s 21 and A.J. Burnett was 20.

Like I said, all these talk radio guys, they’re all GMs, they all know everything. Derek Lowe throws seven innings, now all of a sudden he’s great. Derek Lowe gets knocked out in the third, get him out of here. It’s just [Millar whistles]. Pedro last night—you’re gonna start hearing about ‘Well, what’s wrong with Pedro?’ [Expletive], the guy’s 10-4. Everybody’s a GM. Well, who are you going to bring in [that’s] better than Derek Lowe out there right now? Kip Wells? That’s my point. Hey, this guy’s won 21, this guy’s won 17. He’ll be fine. He’ll have a good second half for us.

But they want to get rid of everybody. And who are we bringing in? They want to get rid of Nomar, they want to get rid of me, they want to get rid of Derek Lowe. It’s like, OK, who do you want? Everybody’s [a] GM. And something about this you’ve got to understand: This is the same group that made a lot of people happy last year. No one’s changed. Minor disappointment, not a major catastrophe. Minor disappointment, that first half. It’s a couple months [the Sox have] been in a little bit of a minor slump. But we’re OK. That’s what you try to get over.

The sky is not falling, you know? We could be six out in the wild card. But you’re compared to the Yankees so much. It’s like ‘Oh, God, the Yankees.’ [Screw] the Yankees. They’re gonna win 100 games. You put us in a five-game series with them, I guarantee you I’m taking us. That’s my feeling. I don’t care if the Yankees won 170 games this year. Go for it. Put us in a five-game series, go get Pedro and Schilling. Good luck. Put our offense and their offense and they’ll go head-to-head. But their pitching and our pitching?

Were you surprised at all by the attention when Manny Ramirez didn’t start the final game of the first half due to tight hamstrings, started the All-Star Game and then missed a handful of starts after the All-Star Break?

I don’t know who made the nickname ‘Mannyisms.’ Maybe those are ‘Mannyisms.’ I don’t know what that means and what it is. But you deal with certain things. Everybody in this locker room’s got 25 different personalities—different people, different backgrounds. We don’t know what people go through. People want to get on Pedro for going home early for the All-Star Break. Well, you know what, I don’t think anyone else lives away from their family like he does in the Dominican Republic. I don’t think a lot of people [don’t] get to see your family for nine months. And if you get a chance to go home for a couple days, go for it. He ain’t pitching. See ya later. You’re a pain in the ass anyway [grins].

But for him, before we jump to conclusions when the radio guy’s sitting at home with his wife and kids, sometimes you’ve got to sit back and [say] ‘OK.’ But all we want to see is dollar signs and athletes and spoiled athletes. So that’s what people see is dollar signs and spoiled athletes other than you know, hey, we’re people, we’re human beings. We have moms and dads and kids.

Did you think people were less willing to give Ramirez a break because he’s got a track record of missing games right before the All-Star Break with minor injuries?

No one has any right to question any injuries from athletes. Who’s to say how bad Nomar’s Achilles [is]? Who’s to say how bad Manny Ramirez’ hamstrings are sore? Who’s to say how bad someone’s lower back is? You can’t question anything, because this is a major league level game we’re playing. One sprint down to first base and it smashes his hamstring, now he’s out six-to-eight weeks. If a guy needs two or three days off because he’s got tight [hamstrings], go for it. Now we want to talk about why he played in the All-Star Game. Who gives a [crap], you know? Maybe he did it in his third at-bat in the All-Star Game, maybe he did it the second. Who knows? The point being is Manny had a bad hamstring.

But I like I said, it’s 160 playoff games. Oh God, oh God, oh God. No, it’s not like that. Guess what? Gabe Kapler gets to get some at-bats. Guess what? Gabe Kapler goes deep two times that series. It’s OK. It’s why you have a 25-man roster. Nomar isn’t playing last night, why isn’t he playing? It’s OK. Gives him a day so he doesn’t snap his Achilles and we lose him for two more months. That’s why you put a 25-man roster together on a big league team.

Do you sense reporters carry the team’s championship burden here?

We’ve got some guys who make a lot of money on ‘The Curse,’ so they’re going to keep that going as long as it’s going to make them money, basically promoting themselves and keeping ‘The Curse’ alive and keeping the fans intrigued. Curse, there’s no such thing as a curse. We haven’t ha the better team in that time. You tip your hat to the Yankees last year. They got some big-time hits in some big-time situations. Nothing to do with the ghosts flying around, you know? Matsui hit an 0-2 fastball down the line. Derek Jeter hits. That’s just baseball, you know? Bucky Dent’s home run.

Do you have any reporters whom you trust more than others?

Yeah. You’ve got a few reporters you trust, you know. You have your few reporters you don’t, you know what I’m saying? But that’s life. Some guys you trust, some guys you don’t, [whether] it’s media or players. I like [Tony] Mazz, Bob Hohler. I don’t know, there’s probably [more], all that I deal with. Honest to God, that’s the thing: I don’t know a lot [of reporters personally]. Bob Hohler, I deal with a lot. Ian [Browne of redsox.com], we deal with. We get The Boston Globe at home.  Some guys, I don’t know if they write on me or not. It’s unfair to say if I trust them or not.

Email Jerry at jbeach73@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jerrybeach.

Fighting Words Q&A: Hawk Harrelson

The Hawk made Ken Harrelson's time in Boston an unforgettable one. Photo from this site.

Below is one of the more fascinating and unexpected interviews I conducted in the writing of Fighting Words. I wanted to talk to Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, the famed White Sox broadcaster and former Red Sox outfielder and broadcaster, because Carl Yastrzemski credited him with lightening the mood around the 1967 Red Sox, embracing the role of team spokesman and making it easier for Yastrzemski to concentrate on baseball.

I had no idea how highly Harrelson thought of Yastrzemski, nor of how Harrelson has come to view the “Hawk” as a different personality that overtakes him during pressure situations and allows the naturally shy and reserve Harrelson to thrive in those scenarios.

With the White Sox in town this week, I figured it was a good time to post this interview, which was conducted in the visitor’s television booth at Fenway Park in August 2007. Hope you find it as fun and interesting as I did.

What did you think of the passion you saw upon arriving in Boston in 1967?

It was something. It was really fantastic to be a part of. Because the franchise had been down so for long, it was almost like it was apathy among the fans. And then to come in here and see the packed house every night and the atmosphere and the attitude and just to watch Yaz play—that was unbelievable.

Carl said your presence really helped him, particularly when it came to dealing with the media and all the attention. How do you think you helped him?

I’d been the “Hawk” since I was 17. Dick Howser gave me that when I was 17 years old. And when I got here, again, it was only a nickname. Only the “Hawk” took a life of its own and I really became—we became buddies, he and I. Because I’m like Yaz. People who know me will tell you I’m very quiet and very introverted. But the “Hawk” was not. He was just the antithesis of that. And that’s what Yaz was talking about. And he’s right. It took a lot of pressure off a lot of the guys, and just like that helped them and helped Yaz. He helped me, hitting behind him in ’67 and ’68, you know? It made me realize what you had to do. And if you look back, you’ll see in ’67 and ’68, I had my two best years. And two big parts of that was because of Yaz: Hitting behind him and learning, when you’re facing good pitching out there—I’m not talking about mediocre pitching, I’m talking about 20-game winners—you better know how to ratchet it up a little bit. And that’s what he did in ’67. To this day, that’s the greatest offensive season I’ve ever seen by anybody.

We were talking the other day: Sometimes, you’ve got to go beyond the numbers. Now there were guys who had a lot better offensive years, numbers-wise than Yaz. But nobody ever had a better offensive year than he did, as far as when he hit it. Don’t tell me what you hit, I don’t give a [crap] what you hit. I’ve played with guys hitting 30 home runs and driving in 100 runs [and it] didn’t mean a damn thing. When he hit it, it was phenomenal. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: He was the renaissance of baseball in New England. And in fact, I used to call him Renaissance Man. He was the man. I mean, he brought all this back to one of the great franchises in the world and in sports. He was the one that revived it and literally made it what it is today.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that the best Red Sox teams have had guys who were able to absorb the media attention?

The biggest killer of performance is pressure. It’s not being overweight. It’s not getting enough sleep. It’s pressure. That’s what it is. It’s that simple. Yaz is the most fearless baseball player when it comes to pressure that I’ve ever seen.

Most of the time, guys who enjoy the limelight, pressure doesn’t get to them too much. It doesn’t bother them too much, because they have created a way to handle it. If you ever wanted to start with a guy who handled it, you start with Yastrzemski. It’s that simple. And then you would go to a guy like Michael Jordan.

When I got here and joined him, I watched him. I just watched him and you see him handle the media. To see him handle the pressure of the media, I’d never seen it before. I had never seen a player handle the pressure of the media, because it was phenomenal. Our lockers were catty cornered. I was here and he was there and in between was a beer cooler over here and the entrance to the showers right there. There was a room there and I had room to sit. And sometimes he would sit with his head in his hands like this [motions] for a long time. And I would sit there and watch him, and then he’d go into Vinny Orlando’s little room where he kept the hats and stuff. And then once the game started, he had everything under control.

Absolutely magnificent—his execution, his leadership in a time that no Red Sox player had ever faced, maybe ever. Maybe ever, including number nine [Ted Williams].

Did you think the Chicago media was as aware of and quick to reference the White Sox’ title drought as the Boston media was of the Red Sox’ drought?

I thought they presented it to the fans very well while it was happening. They had a great sense of the moment, never got ahead of themselves. It’s almost like they just went ahead and enjoyed [the White Sox' 2005 title] as much as the players and the fans did.

I understand the media’s job, and that’s the media’s job to look at things in an objective way and for the most part in a negative way. And there’s some members of the media that believe what they write can be an influence to the ballclub. And sometimes it can. The media today—I can’t imagine that same scenario with the media being like it is today, back in ’67. On a scale of 1 to 10, the media’s at a 10 today. Back in those days, compared to today, that media was like a 3. So I can’t imagine that same thing.

And then ’04 comes along. My wife and I were watching the playoffs, and when the Yankees were up 2-0, she asked me ‘Well, do the Red Sox still have a chance?’ I said ‘Hell yeah, they’ve got a chance.’ Then when they lost the next game [and] went down 3-0, she asked me again. I said ‘No, they don’t have no prayer.’ But that even made it better. If you had to write a script, that would have been exactly the script you would have written. And then when they won the World Series, I had tears in my eyes again, as I had tears in my eyes in ’86.

Can you expand a bit on how the “Hawk” emerged?

Fans made it. Fans brought him out. There’s an on-deck circle down there that we use to have. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in that thing and said ‘All right, Kenny, get out of the Hawk’s way and let him go,’ because he could do it. I couldn’t. And I’ve talked to some psychologists about it. They said it’s very common. They said ‘You were very fortunate to at least recognize that, even though you may not have understood it. You recognized it at an early age’ We all have—you have multiple personalities, everybody has them. You’re a different guy when you’re angry than when you’re happy than when you’re sad. We all have different personalities and I was able to recognize mine. I couldn’t stand the pressure. I didn’t like it one bit. Hawk loved it. Now, he didn’t come out all the time. But when he did, he did well.

But I was a product of the fans. And a lot of times, you know, you come out of the dugout and you’ve had a long night or a short night or whatever way you want to put it and you’ve got a hangover or you’re not feeling good. And all of a sudden you walk out of that dugout and there’s 35,000 fans there with their arms outstretched saying ‘Hawk, we love you.’ All of a sudden, poof, that hangover’s gone and you’re ready to play some baseball.

To a degree, he still [appears] when we get on the golf course. I remember a few years ago when I beat Rick Rhoden in the playoff of [a celebrity golf tournament]. Rhoden, I think he was leading us by seven shots at the turn. All of a sudden, my caddie and I are walking down [the fairway]. He’s like a second son to me and he knows about the 'Hawk.' He says ‘So where’s the Hawk?’ I said ‘He’s here. He just came in.’ And sure enough, we birdied five out of the last six holes, shot five under on the backside, got into a playoff and then birdied the first hole. I didn’t do it. I’m just watching him play.

Is it like an out-of-body experience when the "Hawk" arrives?

Yeah. He did it in the only senior event I played. I shot—he shot—69 and 71, so we were four under. If we shoot 64, 65, [they’ve] got a chance to win the tournament. We didn’t, because I took over rather than letting him do it. But on the 18^th hole, we had a 40-footer for eagle. And all of a sudden we get up over the putter and I’m looking at it and there’s about 15,000 people around this thing. All of a sudden, 'Hawk' just turns around, looks at them and goes ‘Are you with me?’ like that. And I’m just dying, I’m embarrassed, because I never would have done that. But all of a sudden they say ‘Yeah!’ He gets up, knocks the son of a bitch right in the hole. And that was almost like an out of body experience. I had tears in my eyes.

I also had one happen to me here April 10, when I came back for the 40^th reunion [of the 1967 team]. They introduced us and I got to first base and everything’s OK and I can feel the 'Hawk'—he’s enjoying it, he’s taking the moment in. And then all of a sudden, it was almost like I felt somebody tapping me on my shoulder and I started thinking about [the late] Joe Foy and Jerry Adair and Elston Howard. It was almost like saying ‘Hey, Hawk, don’t forget about us buddy,’ and when that happened, all of a sudden, I had tears in my eyes. Just welled up and I had tears in my eyes. Yes it was weird. It was almost like a vacuum that I hadn’t experienced.

He comes in sometimes. He comes in sometimes and I’m glad it’s only sometimes, because when he gets in, usually [there’s] a lot of stuff that’s written about it and talked about what he said. He’ll say some [stuff] that I’d never say. But, again, it’s not that unusual. We all have that. We all have that side to us. It’s an alter ego. When I had a chip shot to [force] that playoff with Rhoden, I’m talking to him. I’m saying ‘Hawk, let’s get these other guys with us. Let’s get our other friends,’ because we’ve all got parts. You’ve got Mr. Anger, Mr. Fear, you’ve got all these people and there are parts of you and they’ve been with you your whole life and they’re going to be with you until you’re dead. And if you want to recognize them, fine. If you want to have them work with you and be a part of your family, you’ll be fine. If you don’t and you exclude them, they’re gonna get pissed off, because they are parts of you and they want to be included.

So he and I got together and were talking over this chip shot. And it’s an impossible chip shot—in fact, Bobby Murcer and John Brodie were standing there and they’re just shaking their heads because it’s just an impossible chip shot. So I’m talking with 'Hawk,' I’m looking down and I’m not having the same reaction they are. And 'Hawk,' he’s [getting the] guys together. First thing, you know, we talked about it, and we say ‘Mr. Fear, we want you to be with us, but we want you to step aside right now.’ Get up and hit it and hit it absolutely perfect. This far from the hole, knocked it in. Bobby to this day says it was the greatest chip shot he’s ever seen. I said ‘You’re talking to the wrong guy I didn’t hit it.’ And it’s the truth. It was easy.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if Yaz didn’t have something going for him, the way he was in ’67. He was one of the few guys to show you how he can handle his mind He’s one of the guys, the older he got, he was a better fastball hitter at 40 than he was when he won the Triple Crown. How many guys you see like that?

Fighting Words Q&A: Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez is pretty interesting off the mound, too. Photo from this site.

As spring turned into summer and Pedro Martinez remained unsigned, I began to think there wouldn’t be a natural opportunity to post the Martinez interview I conducted for Fighting Words. Fortunately, Martinez signed with the Phillies during the All-Star Break and makes his debut tonight against the Cubs, so I am quite pleased this morning to unveil what ranks as perhaps the most memorable interview in which I've ever participated.

I could have written a book off of and about this interview alone. The Cliffs Notes version goes something like this: I traveled to Port St. Lucie at the beginning of spring training in 2005, months after Martinez left the Red Sox for a four-year deal with the Mets, with no idea if Martinez would be willing to talk about his fascinating relationship with the media in Boston but knowing it was essential to make the attempt.

Fortunately, on my first day in Port St. Lucie, I was among a group of reporters with whom Martinez was casually chatting. He started talking about how he’ll sometimes exhibit less control during his first run through a batting order so that he can set the opponent up for the middle and later innings. I said that sounded like something he’d done in a start against the Mariners in 2004 and he smiled and remembered the game to which I was referring. As the group dispersed, I hung back, introduced myself to Martinez and told him what I was doing and that I’d love to talk to him for the project. He said he’d talk to me late the next day.

Martinez kept his word, despite a distraction-filled day highlighted by a Mets employee who tried numerous times to sabotage the interview, and provided 25 incredible minutes in which he was equal parts brilliant, prideful and insightful about his career and his relationship with and observations of the press. I only used a fraction of what he said, but every word was interesting.

Enough out of me. Hope you enjoy this—I really think this will be worth your time. Sometime soon—I’m thinking Monday since I’ll be away for the weekend—I’ll have the Dan Shaughnessy interview in which I ask him about his relationship with Martinez.


What was it like going from Montreal to Boston?

Different. It was different. Montreal was very easygoing, very quiet. Very friendly. You will hear very little knowledge. And then, if you flip-flop that, you can hear everything else in Boston. I’m not saying anything bad, but it was so fast compared to Montreal.

How did you help out Orlando Cabrera when he was acquired from the Expos by the Red Sox last year?

He was lucky. He had people like me and Manny to protect him and keep some of the media members away from him. Because if you make a habit of giving them time whenever they ask, you will never work. And the same thing happens here in New York, as far as I can see so far. You just have to choose the time and the right time for you and for them [to] actually give them time, because the attention is always going to be there.

You weren’t seen a lot in the locker room last year…

I have a long regiment of work and it takes a lot of time. But my locker was also in the back. I had another locker in the back. I was always in the back room and that’s why you guys didn’t see me.

Do you think it’s part of your job to talk to the media?

Yes. It is part of my job. But I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. But I understand it’s part of my job.

You went several months without speaking to the press in 2003. What happened?

Yeah, there were a few things, some lies that flew, some things that were said out of, I guess, jealousy from some of the media members. Speculation and stuff like that. I don’t know really the reason, but they were very unfair and I didn’t feel like I needed to be treated that way after I had helped so many members of the media and been so helpful to them. Because I understand, as much as it is a part of my job to speak to the media, I understand that that’s their job, to make me talk and get some quotes. And I was always there to do that. And I can tell you some names that I believe were really, really good persons and gentlemen and good reporters as well. I cannot tell you everyone was the same though. But I must tell you, there were a lot of things that happened.

There are some good reporters in Boston, very good gentlemen. As much as I had bad people sometimes chase me around, the same way those people stood up for me. I remember Sean McAdam, Tony Massarotti, Michael Silverman, Bob Hohler. I remember Joe Castiglione. People like that, those were excellent people and those are the people that made my life easier in those seven years in Boston, because those people know me. They were good reporters and wrote what they saw, good or bad, but also were people that respect the game and the players and their personal lives and everything.

And that’s one thing I must tell you about the Boston media: They did respect our private life, especially mine. They were very, very professional about that.

What happened in Toronto in April 2003 when you talked about the Red Sox exercising your contract option?

I said I’m really happy and thankful that the Red Sox chose to pick up my option and kept the doors open for further negotiations. And somebody took it out of context and wrote it the way they wanted and said ‘Well, Pedro’s not happy with the fact that they picked up his option and he expects them to sign him to another extension.’ I never said that. I never mentioned that. I never mentioned that I wasn’t happy. I always said I was happy and I was very thankful. I don’t know what I said wrong there. Those were my exact words. And I remember Sean McAdam standing up and saying ‘This is exactly what he said and everybody has written it.’ But they called me greedy. I didn’t like that because it was never in my mind, it was never in my heart. We kept the doors open to further negotiations and we did negotiate in spring training [2004]. We negotiated all the way.

Why do you think Boston athletes often leave the city on bad terms?

I know Ted Williams was one person that hated to go to Boston because of the way he was treated by the media. Mo Vaughn left mostly because of that. Nomar wasn’t really happy when he left because of the treatment that they were giving him. And people like Shaughnessy, they keep on giving him the power of the pen without holding accountable for anything that he writes. I thought he was totally personal against Nomar. What he wrote after the trade, I didn’t think he was professional, what he did. And I don’t agree with it. And the same way I’m being treated right now by him.

It’s not all of them. I gave you some good names, good people, and there’s a lot more people that deserve respect over there. But there are some others that really don’t have my respect whatsoever.

What did you think about the coverage of your arrivals to spring training as well as your departures for and return from the All-Star Break?

The thing is I’ve always been very private with the way I do things. Things that are important to the media, I don’t need to relay to them. And sometimes they felt like I probably didn’t tell them enough and I guess they wanted to know every time I went out to eat or had a beer or something. I don’t think that has anything to do with baseball.

I was so upset [at the beginning of] last year [2004]. I was in a hospital in a room watching through the TV on the monitors and people [are] speculating about me being in a party. I was in the toughest situation I’ve probably ever been in. I’m not gonna go into details why, but that was probably the worst moment in my life. It wasn’t because I wanted to be there or because I wanted one more day away from spring training. It was because I couldn’t [leave]. And I would never do it, and I would have never gone to spring training until that problem was taken care of. I didn’t like it and I’m not going to like it. I will never hold a grudge, but I just think it was so unfair. A lot of those comments that came before were out of ignorance because people didn’t know. They didn’t know. They just wrote it in the papers and they knew they could sell papers.

Another thing—and I know it belongs to the Boston Red Sox—that WEEI radio station, it’s a station that’s there to just rip apart players. Those guys are, pardon me the word, [jerks], those two guys on WEEI. That station is 24 hours. And I know Curt Schilling has gotten on them a few times, called them up and stuff like that. That is something I never did, but I can really relate to some of the things and some of the frustrations that some of the players [had]. I ended up not reading the papers and not ever listening to them, but when my family has to call from the Dominican and say ‘This is what’s happening and this is on the Internet, people are saying this and I thought you were in Boston in the hospital and they’re saying that you’re here in the party.’ When my mom calls from the farm and says that, it really pisses me off. That’s different.

How did you end up as the spokesperson for Manny Ramirez for a few years?

I was the one that would get a quote from Manny to try to help them out. I did it more for the guys that really deserved it, like those guys I mentioned, guys that were gentlemen, because there were some bad ones that were out there. Manny would not speak to any of them, so I had to go and get quotes. Sometimes I bring [quotes from] Urbina, Urbina never talks either. So I go and get quotes and help them out. But those are things they would never write about or specify—‘Pedro was the one trying to help us out.’

Did you have anything to do with Manny’s more talkative demeanor last year? And why did he change?

A lot, a lot. Manny, at first when he saw what it was like in Boston, he sometimes felt uncomfortable. But I told him ‘You still have five more years to go, you might as well just settle down and understand this is going to be the way it’s going to be.’

Why did you decide to speak after games last year?

Because of those good people [in the press]. Once they opened the media room, where they could all go there and ask their questions one by one, I didn’t see why not. I could really be responsible for what I had to say. I talked Manny into being a little bit more helpful and I have to lead by example, so I was trying to do as much as I could. I decided to speak [after] every game, but not do it in between my workouts, the days I was working out. So I tried not to miss any interview [room sessions], and if I did, I would leave a quote.

Did you ever feel as if people were trying to get you to say something inflammatory whenever the Red Sox played the Yankees?

Yeah, because I made news. When you have a star player like me or Jeter or somebody like that, they want to make everything more interesting than it is. And Jeter goes about his business, Bernie and those guys are very professional, and I am the same way. But they wanted to set something up before we got there, they wanted to touch a trigger where somebody could get pissed off and say something. And I can understand that. If you didn’t get personal, it didn’t matter.

You made a lot of back pages in New York…

They wrote about the man. [The New York Post] wrote ‘The man New York loves to hate.’ Nobody knows the man. People know the player. It didn’t offend me, I just wanted [reporters] to understand that the man is a different thing that the player New York loves to hate the most. That would be a totally different phrase than the man New York loves to hate. The man—nobody knows, very few people know him. I’m a totally different human being once I take my uniform off. Even if I’m in uniform and I’m not competing, I’m totally different.

Did you sense the relationship between the Sox and the media was more tense when the Yankees were a topic?

Boston is so small—so many members of the media, so much competitiveness between the reporters that they sometimes have to speculate or say something negative or something to be in the spotlight. I don’t blame them, because there’s so much competition between them. It has to come out somehow. Most of the time, the good guys are ignored in Boston. Sometimes their quotes, when they write it the way that we say it, they don’t run it. They run the quotes where we snap and say whatever.

Along those lines, were you upset with the attention you received for the “daddy” quote?

See, that’s what I’m talking about. If anybody thought that my mind or my approach to the game changed because of that, it’s totally wrong. The thing is, it was a good quote, so people loved it. Now, what I said when I was in New York one time and I pitched a great game and everybody was yelling and screaming, I said I feel so lucky, but nobody plays that one. I feel so lucky because they took me out of a mango tree and made me a center of attention. They gave me so much respect by just putting all of their attention to me, to one single man. I used to be under a mango tree and they didn’t pay attention to that one. But “The Yankees are my daddy”—that was a great one. Pretty big. That was a pretty big one.

Do you think people misunderstood what you meant with that quote?

I was just frustrated and I said that out of anger, for doing my job and still not winning. And you know what, the Yankees can’t say they’re my daddy either, because if you take the box scores—like they say, it’s pretty even. No one remembers anything positive. It seems like the good things will never get the chance. That can tell you who’s evil and who’s not. Whoever writes the right things, whoever writes it the way it is, is the one that’s thinking more like a person, like a person that understands good and bad. But the ones that only write ‘Oh, Pedro hasn’t beaten the Yankees in, what, five outings’—only ones whose negativity comes out. I might not beat the Yankees, but the Yankees haven’t beaten me either.

(Note: Martinez went 10-10 with a 3.20 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in 28 regular season starts for the Sox against the Yankees)

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series, how do you think the relationship between the Sox and the media will change?

What I wondered is what is the media going to write about? Because all they wrote was negative—not all of them, like I said before. But the people that really wanted to write negative now they don’t have anything to complain about. I’m wondering what are they going to complain about now? Now they’ve got a championship from the Red Sox, another one from the Patriots. Now we need the Celtics to win. That might be the next complaint.

Did you ever talk to Ted Williams about his relationship with the press?

No, I did not. I never spoke to him about anything else other than baseball and pitching. He asked me a couple of questions, I answered. He gave me a great compliment by saying that I was one of the best pitchers he had ever seen and signing a program for me. That I will never forget and [will] keep forever.

Did the Sox want to win in spite of the media, to prove it wrong?

That was our mentality. We knew from spring training. We were always holding a meeting. We will always tell the rookies: ‘If you don’t know what you’re going to say, you better not say it, because they make everything big out of everything we say.’ So you were better off not saying anything if you were a rookie. And we knew that we were fighting an uphill battle with the media, regardless of how good we did. If we were in first place in June, they were going to say ‘Oh, in July, they’re gonna die.’ If we made it to the playoffs, ‘they’re gonna go [out] in the first round.’ And that’s how they always felt.

Email Jerry at jbeach73@gmail.com.

Fighting Words Q&A: J.P. Ricciardi

Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi knows the grilling in Toronto is a lot different than it would be in Boston. Photo from this site.

There was a pretty lengthy period of time—like, say, almost two years—where I thought I wasn’t going to be able to land a follow-up interview with Theo Epstein for Fighting Words. I spoke to Epstein in September 2004, back when this project was in the infant stages, but as you know, a lot happened over the subsequent 13 months that made this book much more interesting (I hope) and made talking again to Epstein pivotal to painting the complete picture of his evolution into a reserved and reclusive figure.

Fortunately, I did get Epstein in July 2007 (as you know by now if you’ve read Fighting Words, and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for, buy it now!!), and I’ll post that interview as well as the story behind it in the next couple weeks. But before I got Epstein, I tried to get as many people who knew Epstein and could provide a pretty good idea of what it was like to be a general manager in Boston, especially in the age of instant media.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has never been the Sox general manager, but as a native of Worcester, I figured he’d have an interesting take on the coverage of the Red Sox and what it might be like to be Epstein. And he did, as I learned during this interview conducted during the 2006 season.

His comments on the well-informed nature of the Boston media are sure to annoy those in Toronto who believe Ricciardi would rather speak to the press outside of Toronto than the reporters covering the Jays, and his thoughts on baseball’s more open policies when it comes to injuries were particularly interesting a year later, when Ricciardi told reporters B.J. Ryan was suffering from a back injury, only to have to cop to the truth when Ryan underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery.

As you might have gathered from the above graph, Ricciardi is not the most popular person in Toronto, and the Blue Jays’ recent tailspin has made his job security a regular topic of debate up north. So with the Sox heading to Toronto for a weekend series, this seems like a doubly appropriate time to unveil this Q&A.


What were your thoughts on the Boston media growing up?

I think there’s probably two different stories here. One, when you’re not in the game and you’re reading as much as you can, it’s a great place. There’s a lot of information, they cover the team so well. I think we all grew up on Peter Gammons and everybody like that. But I think once you get in the game and you start dealing with the media, it’s a tough place. It’s not an easy place. I can imagine it’s not an easy place to play. I can imagine it’s not an easy place to work. It’s a double-edged sword, because it’s a passionate place and they want their baseball covered, but on the other hand, there’s no privacy and everything is scrutinized. I think the advent of talk radio hasn’t helped that.

Do you think people have a hard time separating talk radio from the rest of the media?

No, I don’t think so. I can only speak for myself. I think you can separate it, because I think ultimately the media comes down to individuals and who writes how they write, what their agenda is, if they have an agenda, are they fair. [Those] who report on the radio talk shows, are they fair? I personally don’t spend a lot of time reading the paper and listening to the radio, but I know that it’s a necessary evil and [that] we all have a lot of responsibilities for the media. It’s just a tough thing to deal with.

Sometimes you’ll hear something that’s critical and [he’s like] ‘Hey they don’t have all the facts.’ And you can’t give them all the facts, you almost have to bite your tongue and keep things a little close to the vest. Plus I think the culture of baseball is you play everyday, it’s not like football—football is very guarded. Hockey is very guarded even though they play a lot. You know, a guy has a broken leg I hockey and they say it’s an upper torso injury. You could never get away with that in baseball.

Every Sunday, Tom Brady is a probable, you know? So I think baseball, the tradition is there’s been so much written about it and so much information that you can’t be as guarded. And you try to be as honest as you can and give as much information as you can, but I think the press has to respect the times you can’t say a lot of things.

What did you think about the coverage of Theo’s resignation and his return?

I thought it was overboard, but I understand why it was. You have to understand: One thing I know, living here and coming from here, is you could write about the Red Sox everyday and people are going to read about it. People are infatuated with the Red Sox, and I think it’s that infatuation that spurs those articles. So you can’t blame the papers for writing it. For me, personally, you just get to a point where, OK, we know he’s not coming back. But I don’t think the general public thinks like that. They crave Red Sox coverage.

I remember seeing you at the Hot Stove/Cool Music concert in January and fielding some pretty interesting questions. Do you think that symbolizes the passion of Boston fans?

Someone spends a hundred bucks [to ask questions]—the fans in New England are probably the most knowledgeable fans in the game, even though there’s some very good fans across the country. But it’s just the passion here and I think the passion that we’ve all grown up with as kids here—you learn about the game, you understand the game, and the questions that are asked are a little bit more intelligent. I know in Toronto that it’s not always like that. So it doesn’t surprise me that they get intelligent questions asked.

Going back to what you were saying about having to be more open in baseball than in other sports: Do you think it’s impossible to be as open as you’d like in this market?

Yeah, and I think the other thing is—and I can’t speak for Theo because I’m not in this arena every day—but it’s hard to be ‘on,’ everyday, you now? It’s hard to be ‘on’ and it’s hard to be ‘on’ where you have to answer this question 20 different times. Like if we have a player who is hurt—part of me would like to say ‘Look, the guy’s hurt, when you see him on the field, he’s ready to play. What can I tell you, more than that?’ But you can’t, and it’s just a very, very tough spot for [Epstein]. I don’t envy him or Brian Cashman for the horde that they have to deal with, because I know, even in my situation, you get tired about talking about the same thing.

And it’s not that you don’t want to give the press anything, but sometimes I think the press thinks there’s more than that’s really there when you’re telling the truth. It’s like guys, this is it. Like our thing with [A.J.] Burnett—we told them he’s not hurt more than he really is, but what can I tell you? So I think they have the two toughest jobs.

I think the Boston writers and the New York writers are very informed writers and I think they ask excellent questions. And because there’s so much competition here, they pay attention a lot more and there’s not a lot of things that get by in the game that aren’t asked by those guys. In Toronto—just using us for example—sometimes there’s things that happen in the game that I’m sitting there saying ‘Well, I would expect this question after the game’ [and] we don’t get it. It’s not knocking anyone. I just think here, it’s stiffer competition to ask those questions and pay attention a little bit more.

Have you thought about what it would be like to work in Boston, at least from the perspective of dealing with the media?

Yes and no. Yes in the sense that it’s probably the hardest thing for me and everyone in the role I’m in now. My kids, they’re young, they’re nine and seven, and for them to have to go to school and hear someone on the radio ripping their father or for them to go to school and have some kid saying ‘I saw on the TV where this guy was saying your dad didn’t do this,’ that’s probably the hardest thing. Because personally, I’m pretty thick-skinned and I think I can handle that. But it’s just the kids and your family, how they would handle that. Which would be hard for anybody. It’s just funny, because you never hear somebody say to a doctor the next day ‘Geez, you should have used that double loop on this, why didn’t you, how come you didn’t use that?’ Or a policeman: ‘[Why did] you pull that guy over?’ No one’s job is scrutinized like our jobs are, and a lot of it’s a byproduct of the press.

Listen: We’re not curing cancer. I’ll never forget this as long as I live. I was watching a press conference on TV—I think it was a guy from Harvard, I don’t have the exact facts—but he had just found some developments getting closer to a cure for a certain kind of cancer. They said ‘We’re going to have a press conference.’ This guy comes out, there’s like 10 people in the audience asking questions. I’m sitting there saying ‘If this is the Red Sox making a trade, there would be 800 guys in the audience.’ I don’t think it paints us too well, you know?

Paul Epstein said basically the same thing in referring to the coverage of Theo’s resignation and how it was played above the fold, even above news about Osama bin Laden.

I went to the Duke-Boston College basketball game and I was giving my ticket to go in there and a kid runs up to me, giving me his resume. And I’m not even the GM here. I can’t even imagine how Theo has a life. That’s the one thing, and it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword, because it seems like to me, personally, a lot of the things that come with the job, I didn’t want. Like I don’t really want to be on ESPN and I don’t strive everyday to be on a radio show or be on a TV show. I’m doing the job because I like building a baseball team, but those are part of the things you’ve got to deal with, that come with it. And you have to be smart enough to know that goes with it. It doesn’t mean it has to be your favorite thing.

Like I said, to me, this is one of the best baseball areas in the world, and it’s because people are smart, the writers are smart and the writers watch the game and pay attention. And not a lot gets by, so you better have an answer for it.

Email Jerry at jbeach73@gmail.com.