Reds Fans, Get Off Hal McCoy’s Back!

It needs to be said…and repeated until you can no longer say it. Until you fall asleep.

GET OFF HAL MCCOY’S BACK!

Apparently, there are a number of Reds fans that are extremely hacked at Hall of Famer Hal McCoy. McCoy has covered the Reds for 37 years and he is unjustifiably being reamed for reporting exactly what Brandon Phillips wanted to put out into the media world. Some are going so far as to blame McCoy for the Reds miserable performance during the Cardinals series.

The Reds lost because they were outplayed, not because of McCoy airing Phillips’ comments or the comments themselves. Anyone, Reds fan or not, that thinks otherwise is way off base here. If you read McCoy’s post from Tuesday, Phillips was taking pleasure on the word being out there. In no blog, article, story or video do I ever see Phillips saying he was misquoted or that his comments were supposed to be off the record. Not one place. Here’s McCoy’s opening statement from Tuesday’s entry.

"To his ever-loving credit, Brandon Phillips did not back down. He did not say he was misquoted or taken out of context or that his comments were “off the record.”"

One comment I read from this post even stated that it’s possible that Phillips wanted these comments to be off the record. Please. This was McCoy’s opening to the piece. How can you make that supposition when Hal’s first line is this?

Another excerpt from McCoy’s article on Tuesday.

"WHEN I ARRIVED at the clubhouse he spotted me right away and headed my way, a large smile on his face. He gave me a friendly fist-punch and said, “Great. It was just great. I have to keep you working.”"

McCoy did as Phillips wished. Hal put it out there for all to see. That’s what McCoy is supposed to do. Report on what’s happening.

For those that have suggested that McCoy should have kept this in the clubhouse since he’s a Reds fan are even more off-base. Again, McCoy covers the Reds. He is not a fan although I know he wishes them well. He states such in today’s entry. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I’m more perturbed that McCoy had to author a post today in which he, in some manner, felt the need to defend himself. I may be off base there myself, but if that is the case, he should not have to do such.

To those that are blasting Hal, think about this. Did Hal McCoy throw a pitch? Did Hal McCoy have an at-bat? Did Hal McCoy flash a signal? Did Hal McCoy have a glove on his hand? The answer to all of those is obviously a resounding “NO!”. He does not play baseball. He writes about it from an objective, unbiased point of view. He always has. He always will. That’s what makes Hal McCoy so wonderful to read. I’ve been reading McCoy’s work for many, many years and I wouldn’t want him to change.

We as Reds fans need McCoy’s objectivity in order to inject some dose of reality into our collective slanted point of view.

From this blogger, I say thank you, Hal McCoy.