Here we go again! For no apparent reason, here we go again. One of the stupidest and most annoying stories in recent Boston sports memory has magically reappeared into the world of New England sports media because what else is there to do in the middle of July in the midst of a boring and infuriating Red Sox season?
The other day, Chad Finn of the Boston Globe published a story on Dennis Eckersley, covering a multitude of topics in regards to the now-part-time NESN Red Sox color man. The well-written feature delved into Eckersley’s personal struggles he’s dealt with nearly his entire life on and off the mound and, naturally, the topic of the “ambush” incident on the team plane back in 2017 David Price threw on Eckersley in regards to criticisms from the 23-year MLB relief veteran.
If I had to guess, Price’s problems with Eckersley began that same year when Eck began calling out Price on-air for how long he takes in between pitches. Rightfully so, Eck poked fun at Price’s intricate routine of breathing and fidgeting in between finally throwing the baseball, seeing as how he is the slowest worker in baseball in that regard. It appears that Price had enough when Eckersley responded to a brutal pitching line from an Eduardo Rodriguez minor league rehab start on-air with one word and one word only, “Yuck.”
Apparently, responding to an ugly pitching line with that word are fighting words…kidding. I’m in the camp who believes that Price only used that example as an excuse to go after Eck for him making fun of Price’s slow work and to not look like the ultimate, self-absorbed asshole. It only makes sense.
Defending his teammate’s honor, Price decided to take a public shot at Eckersley on the team plane and air his grievances there. Eck was walking towards Price in an attempt to get by him when Price blocked his way and began shouting, “Here he is — the greatest pitcher who ever lived! This game is easy for him!…Get the fuck out of here!” This will forever be one of the most childish moves by a grown-ass man in the history of the world. First of all, Eckersley went through hell and back during his professional baseball career. He nor anyone who ever played with or knew him has ever said that the game was easy for him because that’s blatantly false. Secondly, making a scene like that in front of all of his teammates and other media members, etc. is wildly foolish. There are plenty of ways that Price could have handled things privately between the two of them. Instead, he calculated this attack, more or less in order to receive attention rather than at least attempting to handle things maturely.
Eckersley is honest about baseball players on the baseball field. If someone makes a mistake or he observes something about a player and feels the need to comment, it is only ever about baseball. Never once has he made any critique personal. Price responded to his baseball observations as if they were personal attacks, which is stupid. There are not nearly enough critical baseball analysts nowadays, especially in Boston, so Eck is a breath of fresh air on an ass-kissing company such as NESN. Hearing him honestly make comments and observations about the game and the players in it is interesting and necessary.
Rather than let this Globe feature exist by itself and let bygones be bygones, WEEI’s Alex Reimer decided to post a story detailing this tiny particle of the 4,000-word article and make it extremely public for that part of the story and that part of it only, re-hashing a now two-year-old feud that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. The link to the story on Twitter caught Price’s attention and he quote tweeted the post that was titled, “Dennis Eckersley still baffled over David Price airplane ambush: ‘I don’t plan on seeing him, never’” with exactly seven laughing-crying face emojis. Weird, but whatever.
Price took things to another level and promptly responded to a few people who replied to his quote tweet, again, making a big deal out of essentially nothing. One user commented, “Your actions and comments were out of line. Like what he said or not, he knows EXACTLY how hard the game is and his spot in Cooperstown proves it. You could always man up and apologize, but something tells me that just isn’t your style.” Price felt the urge to respond to the user with, “I had a meeting set up to apologize to him and he backed out that day. Get your facts right…” Even weirder, and extremely unnecessary. This is a random Twitter user yet Price feels the need to respond and defend himself? Alright…
Things get even stupider when another user asks why this story is resurfacing. Price proudly responds to them with, “Because ECK needs attention!! Same as every broadcast…hahah 8 pitches are thrown and he’s sitting there talking about something he did 30 years ago (with zero mention of what’s going on).” Like, what?! I am beyond baffled by his thinking here with these tweets. It’s so, so unnecessary. Please move on with your life, for the love of God. You just played a major role in helping your team win the World Series last season, should have won World Series MVP and is arguably the best starter in the rotation this season. After you finally became a world champion on October 28 last year you told the world that you hold the cards now. Damn right you do. So, act like it. Be the bigger person. Ignore things like this. Once again, MOVE ON. This feud happened almost exactly two years ago. Where is the benefit in blowing it up again? Because I’m failing to see it.
Why Price is so worked up about Eckersley “bringing up” this story again is extremely confusing to me. First of all, the author of the feature brought up this topic first. Eckersley did not. He simply answered the question and, if you read the quote, his answer is more of a non-answer. “I didn’t know how to deal with that. I don’t plan on saying a word to him, I don’t plan on seeing him, never. [Broadcasters now board the plane before players.] I don’t really give a [expletive] one way or another. I don’t think he really cares one way or the other.” That’s about as innocuous as you can get.
Eckersley’s answer is as calm and mature as you can be when asked about something like that. I can only imagine, to this day, how humiliating that must have been for Eck.
Eckersley is not in the wrong. Boston media is in the wrong for blowing the quote out of proportion. This is a prime example as to why so many people think negatively of Boston sports media, including myself, someone who actually wants to be apart of it one day. The lack of integrity remains baffling to me and may forever be baffling to me. Why write an entire story about one minuscule part of an entire feature? Why choose the most edgy-sounding few words to place in the title on Twitter? Things like this annoy the living hell out of me and only further make me want to at least attempt to singlehandedly save the state of Boston sports media. We can do so much better, people. We really can. All I’m saying is, it’s not a coincidence that this story was written and published the way it was in the middle of a dreadful Red Sox season in the middle of summer all whilst the company that is WEEI is continually shooting themselves in the foot publicly.
If Price’s tweets on this topic weren’t weird enough for you, the comments he made during his media availability session this afternoon were even weirder when addressing his tweets. Keep in mind, just a couple hours before Price’s media availability today, Alex Cora made his weekly appearance on WEEI and straight-up said when asked about Price’s tweets that the two of them had talked about it and nothing else will be said publicly. Well, that didn’t last very long, did it? It also makes Cora look bad, making these comments all the more infuriating. Here are some of his noteworthy quotes from this strange 10-or-so minute session:
Where do I begin? Genuinely asking, I don’t even know where to begin. Imagine lacking that much self-awareness and general awareness of the situation and world around you. For the millionth time, Eckersley DIDN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT. He was asked about it and gave a NON-ANSWER. He did not bring anything up. Eckersley answered a question for a long-ass story that was about so much more than this incident.
Also, Price’s comment on the Eckersley television special was quickly proved false. I personally didn’t see the TV feature myself, but multiple people have named at least six individuals who played baseball with Eck who were in this TV special and talked about him. Not sure what Price was watching or if he simply thought this fib would make him look better and make him seem like he has more friends than Eckersley. Weird middle school move, but okay.
I’d like to note that I make it a priority to watch games in which Eckersley is in the booth with Dave O’Brien and have ever since he started this gig. He is so fascinating to listen to and more often than not I actually learn something from him as opposed to a lot of other baseball analysts. That’s beside the point. What I want to say is that I cannot recall a single time between July 2017 and now where Eck has hardly spoken about Price during a game and made any criticism about him let alone bring up the plane incident. Eck. Has. Not. Talked. About. It. Out of fear, I’m presuming, Eck has hardly even talked about Price during one of his starts. He is not instigating anything contrary to Price’s belief.
This whole thing annoyed me from the day it happened and two years later I am still annoyed. There’s no reason for any of this. It’s unnecessary. I love David Price, I really do. Regardless, his sensitivity to things like this is so maddening. As a sensitive person myself (Price and I are both Virgos LOL) I understand how important it can be to defend yourself in situations like these. At the end of the day, though, you have to let it go. Two years it’s been. Almost 720 days. It’s in the past. You’re now a World Series champion. Eckersley, if you paid attention to him when he is in the booth, hasn’t brought you up since this all went down. It’s time to remove yourself from this, bro. Please. I’m begging.
Comments