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Pirates' broadcaster details mid-game argument with Tony LaRussa
Arizona Diamondbacks Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa hasn’t managed a baseball game in more than four seasons, but he’s still willing to go to extraordinary lengths to defend his record in the job.
La Russa entered the broadcast booth of the Pittsburgh Pirates television crew Tuesday during a game at PNC Park after hearing broadcaster Greg Brown characterize him as being a manager who always believed in retaliating for players being hit with pitches.
The topic was discussed during the broadcast because Pittsburgh pitcher Arquimedes Caminero had hit Arizona players Nick Ahmed and Jean Segura with pitches earlier in the game.
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Brown described the confrontation during the broadcast. He said he purposely moved out of sight of cameras while arguing with La Russa in an effort to try to keep the disagreement between them. He said he had no plans to revisit the incident after it was over until he read comments from La Russa about it in an Arizona newspaper on Thursday.
Here is how La Russa explained his decision to enter the broadcast booth and confront Brown to the Arizona Republic newspaper.
"I never have stood for inaccuracies,” La Russa said, “so I corrected the inaccuracies.
"It’s about taking responsibility. If you’re going to speak untruths then you’re going to get challenged and you should be responsible for what you say. I am. I reacted."
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Brown bristled at the suggestion that something he said in his orginal characterization of La Russa's history was inaccurate. He said the fact that La Russa chose to speak about it led to him needing to explain his side of things during Thursday's broadcast.
"Well, now I react. I didn’t speak any untruths. I spoke completely accurately, and I’ll stand by every word I said. Again, I didn’t want it to get to this point. I don’t want to get in any more squabbles, but I need to tell my side of the story. And that’s that."
It seems extremely thin-skinned and amateurish of La Russa to invade the broadcast booth of an opposing team on the road to refute comments being made about his record as a manager and how that approach might be currently affecting the thinking of the Arizona organization. First and foremost, the broadcasters work for the Pirates and are free to share their opinions on all things related to the game and the people and personalities on both sides.
Brown could have been much harsher in his assessment of La Russa and his history and how he was perceived in baseball. Brown's comments weren't intended insults or shots at La Russa.
La Russa may not agree with what he heard, but there is a time and place to address that with the broadcaster or journalist involved and disrupting the broadcast is not the time for it. It's simply unprofessional. If Brown had a bone to pick with La Russa, do you think La Russa would be OK with him choosing to walk into, say, a scouting meeting and make his points? Of course not.
You have to wonder how La Russa would have handled the situation if it was Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully reminding his audience of La Russa's history. It's doubtful he would have handled it the same way.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
