What was the deal with Thom Brenneman's pop? He lit into Cub's fans as if it was a personal issue. I wonder if having his sonny boy fired from the Cub gig had something to do with the sour grapes towards the Cub's?

Personally, I am very happy that he painted all Cub fans with the same broad brush of disdain. I am going to the games in Cincinnati, September 6-7 and can rest assured that my behavior will be accepted more easily since they should be expecting us all to exhibit rude boorish behavior now. If I act fairly well mannered, I should be very well received . No pressure....

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Go Cubs!!!!

Another non-story that was overplayed. He never said "all" Cubs fans in his rant. And he clarified that in the interview. He said Cubs fans are the most disruptive fans in the NL. That's a true statement. More games are disrupted at Wrigley than any other park. That doesn't mean ALL Cubs fans are disruptive. He made a statement that Chicago fans and media chose to interpret as a broad brush statement. Another case of fan and media over-reaction played for all its worth by the radio talkers.

I think Cubs management has to take some responsibility for this. If they wanted to solve this problem, they could. Hire cops and position them throughout the outfield (as is done at Yankee stadium and other parks) and have them empowered to arrest disorderly fans. If fans know there is a high likelihood of being arrested, fewer will behave badly. One of the reasons these nut jobs do this stuff is because they can with little fear of arrest.

I agree with you about management taking on some responsibility with these issues. I heard Chet Copick talking about how he felt the Cub's should have a rule that bleacher patrons should be 21 and over. That's crazy!!! The Cub's should not accept that this kind of behavior is inevitable. Instead, they should take measures to curb this behavior. Chet was way off. That's like saying women shouldn't be allowed out after 10pm, because there are rapes taking place-Hell you find and arrest the criminals. But I tend to think that since no baseballs were thrown anywhere near any players, there was no real danger to anyone. Had the fand been throwing things while the Red's were in the field and trying to hit them, then it's a bigger more serious problem. As it is, they just need to eject those who throw things to make people think twice.

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Go Cubs!!!!

I need to bring this up again because more people really need to call out Marty on his hypocrisy.

May 3, 1988

LEAD: Pete Rose, whose fiery style on the field was a trademark of his unparalleled 24-year playing career, was suspended yesterday from managing the Cincinnati Reds for 30 days following a volatile dispute with an umpire.

Pete Rose, whose fiery style on the field was a trademark of his unparalleled 24-year playing career, was suspended yesterday from managing the Cincinnati Reds for 30 days following a volatile dispute with an umpire.

The suspension, imposed by A. Bartlett Giamatti, the National League president, was the most severe ever levied against a manager for an on-field incident. Leo Durocher, then the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was suspended by Commissioner A. B. (Happy) Chandler for the entire 1947 season for ''conduct detrimental to baseball,'' but the action had nothing to do with on-field activities.

Giamatti also summoned the Reds' two radio broadcasters, Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall, to New York for a meeting today. He said their comments on the air incited fans to unruly behavior, which included the throwing of such objects as radios and cigarette lighters onto the field.

Rose, in a statement issued by the Reds last night, said he would appeal the suspension, calling it ''excessive.''

Giamatti's action stemmed from the encounter Rose had with Umpire Dave Pallone Saturday night in the ninth inning of the Reds' game with the Mets. Following Pallone's call at first base, which allowed the Mets' eventual winning run to score in the 6-5 game, Rose argued vehemently and made physical contact with the umpire, noticeably pushing him.

Riverfront Stadium fans in the crowd of 41,032 soon joined in the conrontation, throwing objects onto the field. After about 15 minutes, Pallone left the field and the remaining three members of the umpiring crew completed the game.

The incident, Giammati said in a statement announcing the suspension and a ''substantial'' but undisclosed fine, was an ''extremely ugly situation'' and was ''one of the worst in baseball's recent memory.''

''Such disgraceful episodes are not business as usual, nor can they be allowed to become so,'' Giamatti continued. ''For forcefully and deliberately shoving an umpire, the manager of the Reds, Mr. Pete Rose, is suspended for 30 days and fined a substantial amount.''

In summoning the broadcasters for a meeting with him, the president, who in his brief term in office has exhibited a no-nonsense reaction to situations that arise on the field, said:

''Inciting the unacceptable behavior of some of the fans were the inflammatory and completely irresponsible remarks of local radio broadcasters Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall. . . . There is no excuse for encouraging a situation where the physical safety and well-being of any individual is put significantly at risk. Nothing justifies such unprofessional behavior.''

Giamatti, in a telephone interview, explained that he has the right to summon Brennaman and Nuxhall because they are employees of the Reds, not of the radio station that carries the Reds' games. It is believed that this is the first time announcers have been summoned for possible disciplinary action by a league. 'My Jurisdiction'

''An employee of the club is subject to my jurisdiction,'' he said. ''I could not summon someone else's employees.''

As generally is the case, some fans at the game had radios and heard the announcers criticize Pallone both for the call at first and for his umpiring qualifications generally.

Dave Pallone was an umpire with two strikes against him. He worked ringed by fellow umpires aching to get even with him for landing his job when they were on strike. And he was gay in a sports world where you were supposed to be straight or get straight out.

In this revealing look at baseball, Pallone traces his life both personal and public, and offers a behind-the-scenes account of the players, owners, managers, and umpires...and of outlandish incidents on and off the field. Funny, poignant, shockingly honest, this explosive story is bound to raise a storm of controversy, as it opens eyes about how the game is really played...and about the deeply ingrained homophobia in professional baseball.


ORDER TODAY!

"TELLS US HE PERSONALLY KNOWS HALF DOZEN GAY PLAYERS, INCLUDING SOME OF THE STARS...GIVES US A TOUCHING VIGNETTE OF HIS AFFAIR WITH ONE."

Who is the hypocrite. Pallone's qualifications were an issue for years. He was thought of as shitty ump LONG before he cam out. If you wanna call Brennaman a hypocite, you are gonna need far more than you posted to make a case for it.

Yes Seacrest its ok to encourage fans to throw batteries, radios, etc to harm a person on the field compared to some baseballs throw into the field harmlessly with the home team on the field. Seacrest, you're such a jack ass.

Ryan:

"If you can't answer a man's arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.” Elbert Hubbard

Where is there a tape that said Nuxhall or Brennaman told fans to throw things on the field?

Answer... there isn't one. Bart felt that they incited fans, they questioned a call from an umpire who was notoriously bad.

Cub fans like yourself who have chanted "throw it back" have done far more than these two ever did. Talk about hypocrisy.

Ryan, That was 20 years ago. And Brennaman explained to Silvy that yes, he was wrong in that instance. So because he did something That is a long time to continue to dredge stuff up about people. I wouldn't hold something he did 20 years against him any more than I'd hold something against you for something you did 20 years ago. That's a pretty nasty lifelong game of gotcha if you play it that way.

The other day we had people on this board admit to stealing various things years ago. By your standard of holding something against a guy 20 years later, should we now consider Uggie and all the rest of the self-admitted thieves in his thread as dishonest people we should not trust? Under your standard of holding something against a guy 20 years later, maybe we should...

I know that I'm going to stop giving out my social security number and bank info to board members now.

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@audioidkid

Marty is going to love his next visit to Wrigley. I've got a ticket for Ronnie Woo Woo, right behind Marty's booth.
Marty Woo, Marty Woo!!

Whether or not he told specifically told people to throw things on the field isn't the point. He riled up the fan base enough to elicit this response. In his situation, his statements can be very powerful.
His comments at the Cubs game appear to be contradictory. He's calling out fans for their behavior when his radio actions haven't been squeaky clean. I can't remember any other situation where baseball went after an announcer for inciting fans.
Seacrest, are you agreeing with the fans who threw objects onto the field? Pallone maybe wasn't a great umpire, but no official should be subject to this type of response. If he's doing a bad job, those actions should be brought up by a peer group -- not fans.

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President of Blake Shetlon fan club

Coast, I wouldn't hold that incident against him at all....unless he wasn't a complete hypocrite. It's just the hypocrisy of his statements that get to me. I'm glad Silvy addressed that and said it wasn't right. I think it did need to be brought up because he torched fans for throwing balls on a field, not at anyone in particular. I don't agree with either scenario.