No, I am not going to address last night’s game. I am pretending like it never happened. So what, wanna fight about it?
I do want to address a comment I had the privilege of hearing out of Bob Brenly‘s mouth last night on the Cubs’ Comcast Chicago broadcast.
Brenly stated, and I am paraphrasing, that Lance Berkman failed to make a play in right field because he “just doesn’t have experience in the outfield” and Berkman was certainly not used to the quirks of playing the outfield.
This is why sports broadcasts have fact-checkers and why those fact-checkers are often left smacking their heads after the on-air talent goes off-script.
Berkman has played in over 1600 MLB games. Just over 900 of those he played at an outfield position, according to Baseball-Reference.com, or almost 200 more than he’s played at first base.
Not only does he have experience in the outfield, he has extensive experience at ALL THREE outfield positions.
Additionally, Berkman has played more games at Wrigley Field than any other MLB park not in Houston. Over half of those were spent patrolling the outfield.
Unfortunately, Brenly’s not the only one who has fallen prey to this generalization.
Please broadcasters, analysts, and assorted baseball media members – get it right.
Out of practice in the outfield? Sure. Lost a step and unable to cover as much ground as most would like? Lance would probably agree. Awkward-looking in the outfield? Well yeah, he’s kind of always been that.
But inexperienced he is not.
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