Effectively Wild Episode 1644: Block and Report
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss ESPN’s report about Mets GM Jared Porter’s harassment of a female reporter when Porter worked for the Cubs in 2016, Porter’s subsequent firing by the Mets, Mets president Sandy Alderson’s comments about Porter’s hiring, the limitations of assessing character, the obstacles media members who aren’t cis men encounter in male-dominated environments like baseball, how MLB can help prevent continued incidents such as this one, and more. Then (52:45) they banter about the Blue Jays preceding their George Springer splash by signing Tyler Chatwood and Kirby Yates, the Padres trading for Joe Musgrove, the potential for widespread six-man rotations in 2021, and the Nationals signing ex-Cubs Jon Lester and Kyle Schwarber, plus a postscript about late-breaking news, including the death of Hall of Famer Don Sutton.
Audio intro: Golden Smog, "He’s a Dick"
Audio outro: Idles, "Never Fight a Man With a Perm"
Link to ESPN report about Porter
Link to Deesha Thosar on Porter
Link to Brittany Ghiroli on Porter
Link to Ken Rosenthal on Porter
Link to Ben Clemens on Musgrove
Link to Ben Clemens on six-man rotations
Link to Sportsnet on Chatwood
Link to Tony Wolfe on Chatwood
Link to Jake Mailhot on Yates
Link to Patrick Mooney on Lester
Link to largest career WAR differences
Link to 1975 article about baseball perms
Link to Jon Weisman on Sutton
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All people have a right to go to work without being harassed and this is clear harassment, full stop. All of us have a role to play in doing something to change that.
All industries need to focus on their hiring practices. Meg’s point about how those who exhibit bad behavior in positions of power often “pass” as acceptable to their superiors is extremely astute. Reference-checking with subordinates rather than superiors is key. The failure to do so in baseball is extremely galling because the high level job candidates are usually known. In most businesses, it’s hard to reference-check with subordinates because subordinates often don’t know that the person in a position of power is considering a change in jobs. This usually isn’t the case for interviews for GM’s of sports teams.
If I could add one additional observation, this highlights the need that even those who are trying hard to be allies need to stop, question our understanding, and acknowledge that there is a TON that we still don’t understand. I learned last night that one of my wife’s single friends who is out dating gets multiple explicit pictures EVERY WEEK. I can’t imagine that, much less taking it to a level where it’s coming from someone in a position of power in your business where the 60-text harassment alone would have been disqualifying even had it not gotten explicit. Talk about shit that somehow has gotten inexplicably normalized.