I’ve heard of fantasy baseball, but this is ridiculous.
The president of District 11 American Legion Baseball and manager of Dickson City Post 665 has been suspended for concocting a box score - including fake statistics for players - of a game that was never played.
Jeff Kovaleski fabricated a box score from Saturday’s scheduled game against Moscow Post 579 - a game Dickson City won by forfeit because Moscow did not have enough players to field a team - and reported it to The Times-Tribune. The bogus box score and a write-up of the “game” was published in Sunday’s editions.
“He has been suspended from involvement with American Legion Baseball indefinitely for a period no less than the rest of 2012,” George Roskos, Region 5 Director of the Pennsylvania American Legion, said. “The result should have been reported as a forfeit.”
On Tuesday, Kovaleski said he wanted to spare the players from Moscow the embarrassment of taking a forfeit, which his team had to do several years ago.
“I didn’t intend to hurt anybody, the newspaper or the league,” Kovaleski said. “Being the president of the league, I did not want to embarrass anyone or hurt any kid’s feelings.
“I am very remorseful about doing it.”
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: July 06, 2012 at 12:14 AM (#4174230)If you ever see the Mets game featuring "KHeranndez," that was me.
August 4, 1987?
I dunno if it really happened quite the way Earl says. But in any event, it's funny to think of such a thing happening now. That was professional baseball! Nowadays, you apparently can't even get away with it at the amateur level...
I think the best thing about this story here is that it was the president of the league.
And a member of the City Council...
That makes my brain hurt.
I'm more intrigued by the fact that a Monday night game at Shea between the second-place Mets and fifth-place Phillies drew 50,297. I'm guessing it was the scintillating pitching matchup of Don Carman vs. Don Schulze.
And even with a lineup of Wshgtn, GWard, Mtngly, Winfield, Easler, Pglrulo, Salas, JBonill, and Tolleson, the Yankees had the second-best record in baseball.
Nicce gam, prettty boi!
The Johnny Chung story! Excellent!
That's the one. My glorious contribution to the fourth estate. The speed with which you found that fills me with both reverence and alarm.
Some colleagues of his at Stars & Stripes, however, were drummed out of the service after blatantly making up stories -- one was about an Army dog with over 40 years experience, who'd allegedly served under Pershing. They found a stray mutt and kicked dirt in its face, snapping a photo as it instinctively raised its front paw to its face. The subsequent caption read, "Veteran K-9 officer automatically salutes." One of these errant reporters, incidentally, wound up writing for NBC's "Today Show" in the late 1960s.
Plainfield Teacher's College is unimpressed.
One of the first "wacky sports stories" books I read as a kid mentioned that hoax. Funny story.
One of the first "wacky sports stories" books I read as a kid mentioned that hoax. Funny story.
Some jerk even wrote a Wiki article about it!
EDIT: OK, for some reason, Wiki won't let me link to the proper page (because of the apostrophe, I think). So just Google it and look for the Wiki article. You'll be glad you did.
There's a famous Ronald Reagan story about his days as a radio broadcaster, describing actions from hundreds of miles away that came via teletype (or whatever they called the primitive devices then).
Only once the machine broke - so Reagan, according to the likely-exaggerated tale - cooked up a story about how amazing it was that so many consecutive foul balls were being hit.
"a Monday night game at Shea between the second-place Mets and fifth-place Phillies drew 50,297."
yes, more and more young baseball fans are not aware that the Mets owned NYC at that time, significantly more popular than the Yankees. I guess it would seem hard to believe if you're under 30, come to think about it. But so it was...
As for Plainfield Teachers College, I believe Mary Livingstone was its most famous alum until Johnny Chung enrolled.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main