Baker 'shocked' at broadcaster's Thursday comments
By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com
Dusty Baker didn't like the tone of Cubs broadcaster Steve Stone's comments following Thursday's game. (Tom Hood/AP)
CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker was "shocked" by criticism leveled at him from television broadcaster Steve Stone, which general manager Jim Hendry felt were "personal" attacks.
On Thursday during the postgame interview with Baker, Stone questioned the manager's moves in the 12th inning of the Cubs' 2-1 loss to Cincinnati. Stone also criticized the team during an interview on WGN Radio on Thursday after the game.
"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth," Stone said on WGN Radio. "Let me tell you something, guys, the truth of this situation is [this is] an extremely talented bunch of guys who want to look at all directions except where they should really look, and kind of make excuses for what happened.
"At the end of the day, boys, you don't tell me how rough the water is, you bring in the ship. The best eight [teams] go on, the other teams go home," Stone said. "This team should have won the Wild Card [playoff berth] by six, seven games. No doubt about it. They have the talent to do that. They're life-and-death right now."
Baker was bothered by the tone of the postgame interview and later heard about Stone's radio comments.
"It shocked me," Baker said Friday. "A man can say what he wants to say. I don't understand it, I don't understand the timing of it. Bad timing. If there's something personal, you need to talk about it. You don't broadcast it to everybody else. I don't know where he's coming from. I feel bad for my team and I feel sorry for him to even do that. That's bewildering to me."
Stone, 57, has been in the Cubs television booth since 1983, working with Harry Caray and then his grandson, Chip. Stone left the TV booth in 2000 and returned in 2003. Baker has known him since the 1970s.
"We had talked about the situation before with the team and him and I thought it was done," Baker said. "Men shake hands as men, it's usually over with. I don't know where this is coming from. Just like I don't know where it was coming from on the postgame interview. There are a lot of bad feelings. I was shocked by the whole thing, really.
"This has been the messiest year I've ever seen in my whole life," Baker said.
On his way to the booth in the press box at Wrigley Field, Stone met briefly with the media and said he had met with Baker and other Cubs officials.
"What happened was I had an extended conversation with (team president) Andy MacPhail and Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker at length and I think we resolved everything," Stone said. "That's pretty much it."
Did he regret his comments?
"We all have things that if we had them to think over again, we might change them," Stone said. "My comments are my comments."
"He has his job to do, and I have my job to do. I think that he respects me and my job, and I believe I respect Dusty and his job. At the end of the day, I think it's best to do these things man to man. Dusty and I were able to do that, and that's pretty much it for me. It's an end to it."
-- Steve Stone
Asked after Friday's game if he thought he might lose his job because of his statements, Stone said, "To be honest with you, it never really crossed my mind.
"I'm a Cub broadcaster. I wish to remain a Cub broadcaster," Stone said. "I love Chicago. It's my favorite city. I chose to come back to Chicago, chose to come back to the Chicago Cubs after being sick. I probably could have gone a number of different places, but chose to come back here. The fans and the Cubs are the best. The organization has been wonderful to me.
"I can't think of any other place I'd rather be," Stone said. "To be honest with you, I was most surprised when people even brought it up because it was something I never even considered. And I'm not considering it now."
Stone was surprised by the reaction.
"I've always felt I've run an honest broadcast and evaluated to the best of my ability," he said. "Whatever happens, happens. Am I shocked? Baseball is a wonderful game. It's afforded me a living my entire life. And I anticipate it will do it, hopefully for the remainder of my life. I have to hope it's with the Chicago Cubs.
"What's done is done. There are two [games] left, of which I do one of them," he said. "Hopefully, the Cubs will have a little life at that point because I think we all thought this year that this team would be a playoff team. Now, the boys will need a little help from some folks out in other parts of the country."
Stone will not be at Saturday's game, which is being televised by FOX TV, and his last broadcast this season will be Sunday. He said he had a good conversation with Baker and said the two are "on the same page."
"We want to do the same thing and that is a World Championship for the Chicago Cubs, which I think will be brought here, if not this year then in the near future," Stone said. "Dusty expressed those feelings. I expressed those same feelings to him. At the end of the day, we both knew we were on the same page in that respect.
"He has his job to do, and I have my job to do," Stone said. "I think that he respects me and my job, and I believe I respect Dusty and his job. At the end of the day, I think it's best to do these things man to man. Dusty and I were able to do that, and that's pretty much it for me. It's an end to it. I really don't know what goes on after this for me. For me, [the matter] is over."
Hendry was not pleased with the tone of Stone's comments as well.
"My own opinion is that when you have the job that Steve has, you're entitled to your opinion constructively or any way you want to analyze the game," Hendry said. "We all know this game is very easy to second guess or whatever when things don't work out. We all realize the farther we sit from the field, the easier the game looks.
"If it starts to become personal, then I think that's wrong," Hendry said. "I think we went past constructive criticism of how the game was managed and I think it became personal.
"Say what you have to say about who you pitch to and pitch selection, or hitting and running and not hitting and running. That's all part of his job," Hendry said. "But when it becomes personal, I think that's an inappropriate way to go."
During the WGN Radio interview, Stone predicted the Cubs would make some "blockbuster" moves this offseason. He implied some trades would be directly tied to the team's ongoing battles with the broadcasters.
Moises Alou / RF
Born: 07/03/66
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 220 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
This season, both reliever Kent Mercker and outfielder Moises Alou have publicly complained about the broadcasters.
"I didn't know quite what that meant, but whatever," Hendry said when asked about the "blockbuster" moves.
The Cubs were one game behind Houston and San Francisco in the National League Wild Card race heading into Friday's game against Atlanta. Chicago has lost five of its last six games.
"We're all disappointed in how the last week has gone, and there's frustration that sets in and the timing [of Stone's comments] make it worse," Hendry said. "But I don't think I'd feel good about it any time of the year if I thought it was personal."
In the WGN Radio interview, Stone said the "defining moment" of the Cubs' collapse was a 15-7 loss to Houston on Aug. 27. That was the game catcher Michael Barrett challenged Roy Oswalt, upset after being hit by the Astros pitcher five days earlier.
"The one game that defined this season, that allowed a team that was dead to get back in was one of the days that started a lot of problems for my partner and I, one of the best partners in the game," Stone said. "That is the Roy Oswalt game, when Kent Mercker hit him in the sixth inning. That illuminated the Houston Astros.
"They were left for dead. The Cubs beat them the first game in a three-game series, they knocked Kerry Wood out in the fifth inning, they hit four home runs [off Wood], Oswalt pitched eight innings on a day the heat factor being 95 degrees," Stone said.
"Instead of being buried, they got back in the race," Stone said. "And guess what? They're up by one game now. The Cubs had a chance to put their foot on their throat, and good teams do that. When you have a chance to eliminate a team, you don't take a personal vendetta out until that team is dead. Kill them, then you have plenty of time for personal vendettas. The Cubs didn't do that and it's coming back to haunt them."
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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Moises Alou / RF
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