SI, HBO and ESPN Fail to Take MLB to Task over Retiree Pension Scandal

"The vital measure of a newspaper is not its size but its spirit, that is, to report the news fully, accurately, fairly and completely."

                                                             -- Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger

Unfortunately, for an old-school reporter like myself, the words of the late publisher of the New York Times are increasingly falling on deaf ears.

At a time when a news cycle isn't defined by what occurred yesterday, but what occurred only moments ago, it has become increasingly obvious to folks such as myself that the prevailing sentiment among sports writers, sports bloggers and sports broadcasters working today is to just keep up with the Joneses.

Used to be that major television, radio and print outlets prided themselves in breaking stories, or doing investigations. Now it seems that they're more interested in running the same stuff that everyone else does.

Am I arguing that the mainstream media shouldn't be all over the damning Freeh Report or the reported Drew Brees contract extension like Dracula at the blood bank? Of course not. But, as the Prince of Denmark suggested, "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

I mean, here we are, days removed from the 2012 Home Run Derby, and sports radio is still abuzz over Robinson Cano's supposed slight in not picking hometown hero Billy Butler, of the Kansas City Royals, to represent the American League squad.

C'mon, folks, when all is said and done, at the end of the day, is that really important?

Yet there are nearly 900 retired ballplayers without lifetime pensions or health benefits that the average fan doesn't even know about. Don't believe me?  In my last post, I included a snap poll. Statistically, while it was not a large sampling, of those readers who took the time to answer the question, 72 percent of the respondents indicated they didn't know anything about the issue.

Let me just go off topic for a minute. Cynics and jaded media types have more than once accused me of continuing to advocate for these senior citizens because I am an author who is attempting to stay commercially relevant. Let me tell you something—one look at my quarterly royalty reports and you'll know that I'm not in this for the money.

Instead, all I want is for baseball to remedy an injustice that is still going on for more than 32 years. Why? Well, this might come across as sounding a bit preachy, and I certainly don't mean it to be, but we put a great premium in this country on the future generation. As well we should; our children are our future.

But we also need to remember those that came before us. We need to treat our senior population with the same healthy respect we accord our little ones. And that's just not happening in this situation.

Why hasn't Scott Shapiro, the executive producer of "Mike and Mike in the Morning" and "The Herd" with Colin Cowherd, devoted any air time of these two popular ESPN shows to this issue?  Bet it would make for fascinating talk radio.

Why has the brass at Sports Illustrated, including B.J. Schecter, Paul Fichtenbaum and Richard Demak, failed to write about this topic, preferring instead to consign the magazine's coverage of the story to a minuscule mention in its "Go Figure" feature?

Why doesn't Kirby Bradley, executive producer of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, do a segment on this topic?

Why doesn't the mainstream media, by and large, want to tackle subjects that affect the elderly?  Is this story too nuanced or too complex?

Maybe it's laziness, maybe it's indifference, or it could be something else entirely.

I'd like to know. I bet you would too.