Comments on: No more Fangraphs for me

By: Jo

Jo — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:36:17 +0000

In retrospect, Dave Cameron crowing about the “revolution” and how the best baseball knowledge is free and not behind pay-walls is ironic as Fangraph’s deal with ESPN now puts his blogs behind a pay-wall on ESPN.com and you have to buy their stupid book on Fangraphs before you are allowed to read the Bonus Blogs. Way to carry the torch for the revolution. #6org.

By: Maury Brown’s Biz of Sports » Blog Archive » Saturday Night’s Alright: Business of Sports Network Enters New Phase, the Tiger Effect, the Prez Visits the Wizards, More

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:32:11 +0000

[...] Bridge Baseball goes after Fangraph’s Dave Cameron, and in the process, seems to have not read what Cameron had to say (or for that matter, what Rob [...]

By: Jeff Fletcher

Jeff Fletcher — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:07:12 +0000

Ben, what I should have written was “if not for the mainstream media, MLB would not have steroid testing.” I used Verducci’s article simply because it sparked the immediate rush of attention to the problem just before the players agreed to testing in August 2002.

You can quibble that Verducci alone didn’t cause it, but I submit that the media as a whole did.

By: Ben Fleming

Ben Fleming — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:45:31 +0000

“By the way, Ben Fleming, I can’t believe you are using BALCO as an argument against the value of the mainstream media.”

Who the hell is doing that? I’m using it as an argument against the insane notion that but for Verducci’s SI piece, MLB wouldn’t have steroid testing. To be sure, it caused quite a stir when it came out. It was an important article. That doesn’t place it within a million miles of being the cause of drug testing. (Which is what you wrote).

By: Idaho Nick

Idaho Nick — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:38:09 +0000

You can’t fathom why, JE? Maybe because Cameron was crying crocodile tears and none of you guys are willing to acknowledge it?

By: Bay Bridge Baseball

Bay Bridge Baseball — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:35:30 +0000

[...] it’s clear that many of the people who have commented on his story and mine do not feel that way. Many of them — and feel free to ignore this if you aren’t in this [...]

By: JE

JE — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:24:23 +0000

Here is Cameron’s conclusion:

“And, while it’s sad to watch newspapers fold and business models fail, it’s exciting to be living in an age where anyone who wants to educate themselves on the game can do so.”

I cannot fathom why you blew a gasket, Jeff.

By the way, as much as I enjoy Ken Davidoff’s Newsday column and blog, I cannot see myself paying for access. And, let’s be clear: Newsday ain’t The Wall Street Journal.

By: Jeff Fletcher

Jeff Fletcher — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:16:29 +0000

Upon further review, I have probably misinterpreted what Cameron meant by his piece. It was only after going to read an article of his on an entirely different blog, though, that I could come to the conclusion that he did not mean the death of the mainstream media was good. Upon reading the above linked article, I actually believe that Cameron has the proper perspective. The baseball world needs the work of bloggers who analyze the numbers and reporters who are on the scene.

I apologize to Cameron for misinterpreting what he said (although I feel it’s a natural conclusion to draw based solely on the Fangraphs article and not his other work).

Although Cameron seems to have the proper perspective, sadly I feel that some of the commenters (both on this thread and the Fangraphs article) do not. Those people have no idea what they will be missing if the mainstream media continues to die.

By the way, Ben Fleming, I can’t believe you are using BALCO as an argument against the value of the mainstream media. I’m pretty sure the federal government didn’t post on its web site: “We just raided the home of Barry Bonds’ trainer and found a bunch of steroids.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:00:46 +0000

boy, way to mischaracterize what cameron actually said.

By: Brian Cartwright

Brian Cartwright — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:17:02 +0000

Cameron rightly points out that the vast majority of internet users have come to expect a world’s worth of content, and to get it for no additional charge beyond what they pay their ISP. Baseball blogs are just a tiny portion of that. The business model has changed. In a world where no ones wants to pay, how does someone run a newspaper, on paper or online? Cameron said the explosion of knowledge freely available online was a good thing, but he never said that the demise of newspapers was, although the first inevitably leads to the second. The media needs to adapt to a changing world.