Fading Away

Journalists like to flatter themselves by saying they produce the first draft of history.  But what happens when they stop bothering to try?  You can’t miss stuff and call it history, although the Tribune tried real hard to do just that today.

Buried deep inside the sports’ section was a one-sentence notice on the death of 96-year old former White Sox outfielder Jim Rivera.  Following that were two sentences on the passing of Hall-of-Famer Bobby Doerr at the age of 99.  Heaven help any baseball fan who depends on a newspaper for information.

The New York Times, of course, ran a detailed obituary, which is how I learned that Doerr was the last remaining major-league ballplayer from the 1930s and he was probably the most popular one in all of baseball during his 14-year career playing second base for the Red Sox, 1937-1951(missing the 1945 season for military service).  According to the obit, Doerr also may have been the one Red Sox player Ted Williams trusted enough to discuss life outside of baseball; Williams particularly envied Doerr for the ideal family life he had growing up.  Now, that’s good journalism as opposed to the Trib devoting maximum space to cover the woes of that team purporting to be the Chicago Bears.

As for Rivera, I had to go online to the Society of Baseball Research (SABR) to get a good biographical article written by Richard Smiley.  I always knew Rivera didn’t reach the major leagues until the age of 29 in 1952, but I didn’t know why.  The debut had to wait because back in 1944, while he was in the Army, Rivera was sentenced to life imprisonment for the attempted rape of the daughter of an Army officer; his baseball talents earned him a parole.  Then, at the end of his rookie season, Rivera was again accused of rape for sex he said was consensual.  According to a lie detector test, Rivera was telling the truth and not prosecuted.

You would think a sportswriter might want to explore parallels between Rivera’s situation back then and the celebrity/public figure sex scandals of today, but I’m not holding my breath, nor am I implying Rivera got away with anything.  Beyond that 1952 incident, he avoided controversy, retiring after the 1961 season to run a restaurant in Indiana and make occasional public appearances as a member of the “Go-Go” White Sox of the 1950s.  Yes, the past is past, but it’s way too valuable to let fade away, especially in the name of more Bears’ coverage.