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About Jon
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
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5) discussing politics
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Duplication in Two Bradley Stories
2005-04-13 12:47
by Jon Weisman

Update: The sidebar referred to below was removed from the ESPN website late Wednesday evening.

Update 2: ESPN and Peter Gammons address the issue.

In a sidebar to Peter Gammons' ESPN.com column today on the Dodgers, the same text that was published in a previous day's Los Angeles Times article - text that includes but is not limited to quotes - appears.

I'm not making any accusations - just pointing out the similarity. I have made inquiries to the Times and ESPN.com to determine if this is, as may be likely, just an editing or publication error.

The following passage appeared Tuesday in Steve Henson's feature in the Times on Milton Bradley.

Former Cleveland teammate and close friend C.C. Sabathia had a candid discussion with Bradley on Super Bowl Sunday, saying he was still angry because Bradley's behavior prompted the trade to the Dodgers before last season.

The final incident in Bradley's tumultuous 2 1/2 years in Cleveland came at the end of spring training when Manager Eric Wedge thought Bradley did not run out a pop-up.

"C.C. is like my brother and when he said, 'You left me and I'm still upset,' that was real," Bradley said. "We wanted to turn Cleveland into a powerhouse, and I see now that my actions were wrong and hurt people."

When the Dodgers traveled from Vero Beach, Fla., to Winter Haven to play the Indians in spring training, Bradley made sure he was one of the few regulars to make the two-hour bus ride.

"By trading me they made a big statement about the direction the organization was going," he said. "I understand they had to do it. I needed to go to Winter Haven to talk to some people. I needed to go for closure."

The following passage appears today in Gammons' sidebar on Bradley:

Milton Bradley and close friend C.C. Sabathia had a candid discussion about Bradley on Super Bowl Sunday.

Bradley said Sabathia was still angry because Bradley's behavior prompted the trade to the Dodgers before last season. "C.C. is like my brother and when he said, 'You left me and I'm still upset,' that was real," Bradley said. "We wanted to turn Cleveland into a powerhouse, and I see now that my actions were wrong and hurt people."

When the Dodgers traveled from Vero Beach, Fla., to Winter Haven to play the Indians in spring training, Bradley made sure he was one of the few regulars to make the two-hour bus ride.

"By trading me they made a big statement about the direction the organization was going," he said. "I understand they had to do it. I needed to go to Winter Haven to talk to some people. I needed to go for closure."

Comments
2005-04-13 13:20:07
1.   Eric Enders
"as may be likely, just an editing or publication error."
-------

Jon, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. As in, perhaps Gammons meant to credit the Times but didn't? That's the only possible excuse I can think of. (Unless ESPN is paying for the L.A. Times news service, in which case I guess they can do what they want with the copy.)

2005-04-13 13:22:35
2.   Jon Weisman
Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Both possibilities.
2005-04-13 13:41:37
3.   brendan glynn
Off topic(sorry Jon) but Depo is going to be on espn radio(710) at 2:20 pst.
2005-04-13 13:48:13
4.   Dodgerkid
Eric--

They'd still have to insert the source, for copyright purposes. You follow that when you write your books correct?

2005-04-13 14:02:01
5.   Bob Timmermann
What's strange is that the Bradley story is in a sidebar. So somebody had to take the extra time to put it in and do the formatting and all that.

Gammons, as you can tell from his typos and grammar, doesn't get a lot of editing, but that's the norm with the "star" columnists.

2005-04-13 14:02:41
6.   Steve
How many All-Star games has J.D. Drew been in again?
2005-04-13 14:05:34
7.   Dodgerkid
Well, a lot of good players have never been in the All-Star game. Beltre and Tim Salmon come to mind.
2005-04-13 14:39:47
8.   DodgerJoe
RE: #3

Did DePodesta say anything interesting on AM710 this afternoon?

2005-04-13 16:37:15
9.   Jay Jaffe
Funny, but I think I just read an apology/correction in the NY Times where a previously published article from another paper that was sent along to an editor as background ran as a Times piece.

I blame Gammons and/or the chimpanzee who edits him -- and I mean that literally, as no human could keep a job with that shoddy a performance.

2005-04-13 17:00:47
10.   aloofman
I noticed this too when I read it this morning. My first reaction was that there was probably supposed to be a byline or credit at the bottom, but it was forgotten. On the other hand, as Jon noted with the comparison, a lot of it is paraphrased, which strays into "I'm no longer quoting the author, just re-using many of his words" territory. (Funny how I put that in quotes.) It's possible that Gammons didn't even write that sidebar, or someone else gave it to him and he modified it. It's a little early to be accusing Gammons of plagiarizing, but it does require an explanation.

IIRC, Karros never made the All Star team either.

2005-04-13 17:24:28
11.   Steve
Before everybody starts listing the lack of Dodger All-Stars (a list not including Mike Sharperson -- I know), this was just a light lark on a line that Ross Newhan (allegedly, in best Jim Rome voice) stole from Jayson Stark a couple of months back. Something about not Drew not hitting .300, not playing in an All-Star game, and RBIs, or something. I'm too lazy to go back and look in my archives for it now.
2005-04-13 18:45:29
12.   Langhorne
I'm still waiting for someone to explain how Ron Coomer made an All Star team.
2005-04-13 21:40:33
13.   Nolan
Jon -

Do keep us posted on whether you get an explanation...I'd love to hear how this happened...

2005-04-14 00:11:56
14.   Steve
I am enjoying this story, as it develops, immensely.
2005-04-14 01:44:04
15.   Nolan
Me too. I fantasize that this could turn into a scandal for the media and end their hegemony over the truth...
2005-04-14 11:05:33
16.   Vic
Gammons comes clean:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=2037158

2005-04-14 11:15:37
17.   Bob Timmermann
I would accept Gammons explanation of the story. I think owned up to his mistake in a classy way.

I also don't think he is that stupid to blatantly plagiarize something written in a widely published newspaper.

2005-04-14 13:49:44
18.   Gold Star for Robot Boy
John, you're huge. You made Romenesko: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45

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