Rosenthal: Buck Has "Carte Blanche" From Angelos

[SammyBirdland]

Can someone give me the textbook definition of "carte blanche"?

Merriam Webster: full discretionary power

Dictionary.com: unconditional authority; full discretionary power

Princeton: complete freedom or authority to act

[TonySoprano]

Not sure of your age, TS, but I know I'm a few years younger than "Lucky Jim." I vaguely remember these controversies, but not with the details necessary to really grasp either situation. Rep to either of you or anyone else who can provide some of the background/details of those affairs. Thanks in advance.

You're looking for pre-internet articles written back in 1988 or 1995? I wish you luck, and a library card to check out the microfiche (if available). P.S. the best thing that happened to ken, back in the day, was when Cal hit a foul ball that smashed Ken's laptop in the press box.

[sangar]

Assuming Buck doesn't want the GM job but has carte blanche in regards to the job, does that mean he will essentially get to choose the GM? Is that an unusual situation? I'm thinking that the manager of the team is usually more of an employee or direct report to the GM. This seems like it could be the reverse of that, almost like the tail wagging the dog.

If Buck can essentially choose the GM, will he be able to fire him if unsatisfied?

[RVAbird]

You're looking for pre-internet articles written back in 1988 or 1995? I wish you luck, and a library card to check out the microfiche (if available).

Hah, no not at all. I was actually just asking for purely subjective recollections and more details. Just curious.

[weams]

Can someone give me the textbook definition of "carte blanche"?

With credit, comes a bill to pay. In that respect, it is really just a white card, not a Golden Ticket.

[Flacco Machado]

Hopefully what Buck wants is a real GM who knows what he is doing and Buck and PA stay out of his way.

If Buck doesn't want the job as GM as noted, then I've got to think with all the deals we've made with the Texas Rangers in the past two years, Asst. GM Thad Levine has got to be the front-runner for the job. You've got Buck, the aged wise one and Levine, the young disciple with Oriole ties.

[TonySoprano]

Hah, no not at all. I was actually just asking for purely subjective recollections and more details. Just curious.

He wrote numerous articles before and after the record was broken.

Perhaps nobody knows the power of Ripken's enduring legacy better than Rosenthal, the subject of an apocryphal story designed to scare sportswriters and their interns. Legend has it that after Rosenthal wrote an article Ripken didn't like, the shortstop intentionally launched a foul ball into the press box that destroyed his laptop.

Tour guides in Camden Yards still tell the tale to this day, and Rosenthal can confirm at least part of it.

"The story is true, but in the times I've heard it, it's been embellished. The tour guides make it sound like he was aiming for my laptop -- sorry, not even Cal is that good!" he said. "I had indeed written something that he didn't like shortly before that. I can't remember exactly what it was -- something about how the streak needed to end, most likely. I wrote columns about that a few times after he broke the record.

"I was sitting where the Sun guys still sit now, and I had my head down when he hit the foul ball. The laptop, if I recall correctly, bounced off the wall of the second row, then hit the ground. I borrowed [a peer's] laptop and made deadline, leading with the smashed laptop. I remember writing jokingly, 'I was just between typing the words 'sit' and 'down.'"

source - mlb.com

[El Gordo]

Can someone give me the textbook definition of "carte blanche"?

It means write your own ticket, whatever you want, blank check etc. It's french and literally means whiTe or blank paper and originated as sign of surrender in military sitations: waving the white paper meant you can write your own terms, just don't kill us.

[Lucky Jim]

Not sure of your age, TS, but I know I'm a few years younger than "Lucky Jim." I vaguely remember these controversies, but not with the details necessary to really grasp either situation. Rep to either of you or anyone else who can provide some of the background/details of those affairs. Thanks in advance.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-03-02/sports/1992062188_1_eddie-ed-die-new-york

No one asks if Murray needs glasses anymore. No one recalls that he once criticized fans for turning Memorial Stadium into "an ugly place." And no one gives a hoot about his stormy relationship with the local media, either.

It was a big deal mainly because Eddie made it a big deal, questioning reporters' motives, refusing to talk his first day with the Dodgers with a Baltimore writer present, even threatening lawsuits.

Was it worth all the trouble?

Murray's preoccupation with the media diminished him, overshadowed the good that he did on and off the field, damaged his relationship with the fans. These days, he talks when it suits him. That's all anyone ever asked.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-08-20/sports/1996233041_1_orioles-murray-eddie

The whole thing seems so petty.

[TonySoprano]

Thanks to having a library card Ken Rosenthal, Baltimore Sun, Nov 25, 1992.

A media event with Eddie.

What could be more bizarre?

The press release arrived at the office last week. I wrestled John Eisenberg to the ground, screaming, "hands off!"

The Eddie "interview" is the easiest workday in American journalism.

I've made it my specialty.

Evening Sun readers might recall my dazzling account of our last rendezvous, at the New York Mets' training camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Interview: 8:30 a.m.

To the beach: 8:31.

Turns out the Frown Prince recalled it, too, but more on that in a moment.

The press release said Eddie would be appearing with Woody Woodpecker and other luminaries. Woody can't talk, Eddie won't talk. It's a good thing former Colt Artie Donovan, former Celtic Sam Jones and the Washington Capitals' Alan May also showed up.

"Wish me bad luck!" I called to my wife, Lisa, as I left for another day of truth-seeking.

My 18-month-old son, Sam, started crying.

"Don't worry, daddy will be home in an hour," I told him. "Eddie wouldn't break a little boy's heart."

I arrived promptly at 10 a.m., but publicist Jill Deutsch informed me the luminaries weren't expected until 11.

"Would you like to tour the ship?" Deutsch asked.

Such decisions.

"All aboard!" I cried.

It was a splendid vessel, and -- check this out -- it even had a sports bar. That's where Jill and I waited for Eddie. I explained to her that the Orioles traded Eddie four years ago, but some grudges never die.

"So he's not going to be happy to see you?" she asked.

"You might say that," I replied.

Eddie entered the bar with Sun photographer Amy Davis clicking away. He then did a modified version of the Eddie stroll, avoiding my presence as he circled the bar. He was laughing and smiling, even talking to Amy.

I rose to my full 5 feet 5 1/2.

It was time for this party to end.

"He called you a monkey," Amy whispered as she departed. "And he's dreading you going over there."

A monkey?

That settles it.

Now I can go play with Michael Jackson.

"I'll leave you a banana at the office," Amy said.

Of course, what Eddie fails to realize is that if he ever granted me an interview, I might actually have to produce an actual story, researching the date he called Memorial Stadium an "ugly place," things like that.

Instead, I take the day off.

Here's the obligatory text of the interview:

"Eddie, can we talk?"

The tried-and-true opening.

"No."

The tried-and-true reply.

"But Eddie," I said, barely containing a smile. "This is a made-for-media event."

"Go back and make another joke, Ken."

Huh?

"That stuff about how you drove all the way across Florida. . . ."

Ah yes, the spring training column.

A three-hour drive for a three-second interview.

Eddie read it!

"Eddie, how about the two nice columns I wrote . . . "

There was one detailing his charity work in Baltimore, another saying he was a lock for the Hall of Fame. Of course, media savant that he is, Eddie missed them.

"I don't operate like that," Eddie said.

Like what?

Ah, forget it.

"Eddie," I said, "I've got no problem with you."

[MatthewW]

Here's the excerpt about Buck not wanting to be the GM:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/orioles/story/2011-08-30/Orioles-MacPhail-could-start-GM-exodus-with-resignation/50196632/1

You (not you specifically, just in general) don't really expect Buck to say "yea, I want to be the GM' while Andy MacPhail is still employeed, right???

Maybe Buck won't be the 'GM' by title... but I have reason to believe he wants more control.

[Skeletor]

Theres no denying Eddie wasn't the easiest guy for the media to get along with. And Cal had some moments where he was hitting .225 and he was clearly a little banged up and could have used some rest. Rosenthal wasn't alone in either of those viewpoints. Regardless, it was 20 years ago. I can't hold grudges that long. And if Rosenthal still has some animosity towards Angelos and the Orioles, so do I and I'm not about to hold that against him.

[ChicagoBird]

Merriam Webster: full discretionary power

Dictionary.com: unconditional authority; full discretionary power

Princeton: complete freedom or authority to act

Peter Angelos: do exactly what I say.

[JDubs]

Google searches do wonders.

[sangar]

Not sure of your age, TS, but I know I'm a few years younger than "Lucky Jim." I vaguely remember these controversies, but not with the details necessary to really grasp either situation. Rep to either of you or anyone else who can provide some of the background/details of those affairs. Thanks in advance.

Eddie wore a gold chain around his neck containing the words (IIRC) "Silent Eddie". This was pretty much the way he treated the press. Early in his career they misquoted him and he never forgave them. Eddie largely ignored the media and rarely spoke with them directly. For this grievous sin, the press went after his blood, finally spilling it when his skills began to decline. They blamed Eddie for everything and eventually managed to convince a significant portion of the fan base that he was the cancer that caused the Orioles to decline.

This is strictly from memory and may not be entirely accurate.