Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price made big headlines with a profanity-laced tirade on Monday after a beat writer reported some roster information that the team had hoped to keep secret.
Price reportedly dropped baseball's most commonly used curse word 77 times during the rant and apologized for his exceedingly poor choice of words. He did not, however, apologize for saying that he expected reporters to withhold information from readers if it is inconvenient for the team.
That's ridiculous, of course, and shows an amazing amount of naivete on the part of a guy who has been around for awhile and is considered a pretty smart manager. He should know better than to think that the media should be complicit in any attempt to hide information relevant to their journalistic mission because of their supposed attachment to the local team.
But let's not be shocked that a manager whose team had lost seven of its last eight games lost his cool and took his frustration out on one of the team's beat writers. That kind of thing has been happening since reporters wore their press cards in their hats.
I was there when Lee Elia, who is a terrific guy, blew up after Cubs fans booed his team during a loss to the Dodgers at Wrigley Field. He said something to the effect that "80 percent of the people in this town work for a living and the other 20 percent come out here and boo us."
The reporters thought it was funny, but Lee's bosses didn't think so and made him make a very humble public apology.
My favorite managerial explosion came from Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda way back in 1978, when a radio reporter asked him what he thought after Dave Kingman hit three long home runs to defeat the Dodgers on Mother's Day.
It was a classic, but because there was no Twitter or Facebook to instantly link the audio, it was a long time before regular folk got to hear it. I was at that game as a fan with my mom and didn't know about it until I became a baseball writer a year later and heard the tape.
Now, guys like Bryan Price have to think twice before saying anything because just about everything can be in front of everybody in a matter of seconds.
He should have known that already.
But, in a media world where cable television cartoons such as South Park can use profanity freely for anyone of any age to hear, it's also a bit naive to be particularly shocked at what he said.