BASEBALL/POLITICS: You Must Not Read the Sports Pages Too Often

Via Kevin Drum, I see that, in one of his regular plangent calls for a better press corps, Brad DeLong has highlighted an extraordinary suggestion from one of his readers. Namely that:

I repeat my previous suggestion for the “baseball test.” A reporter should not be assigned to cover subject X unless he has as good an understanding of X as a baseball writer is expected to have of baseball.

I assume that Professor DeLong’s reader does not intend reducing the quality of political coverage in this country but it seems unavoidable that this is indeed what he is proposing. I mean, has this chap ever read Bill Plaschke? Or Murray Chass? Both these men are members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (though typically, being stuffed shirts, they decline to cast Hall of Fame ballots).

Here’s Chass listing some of the things he didn’t want to hear about this season:

Statistics mongers promoting VORP and other new-age baseball statistics.