7 DEC 06: WHALEY OF A TALE
Near the end of a college football game last Saturday, ABC's Brent Musberger said: "There are 90,000 people here - and within three days, 175,000 will claim they were here." You can prove the fans are lying by demanding they show a ticket stub. But what if the players lie about playing in the game? Those bruises can come from almost anyplace....
BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Your blog has discovered a former pro baseball player may be misleading people about his career, in a Columbus TV commercial. It's the ad for Liftech where a man says, "I'm Scott Whaley, former pitcher for the Oakland A's." Just because someone wears an A's cap doesn't mean he actually pitched for them.
Admittedly, I don't watch that much major league baseball anymore. You can wake me up around the last week of September, and I'll pay attention during the playoffs. But when a baseball player appears in TV commercials, you would figure it's a familiar name - and Scott Whaley absolutely is not. It's like having one of the Columbus Catfish rookies selling cars.
Perhaps, I speculated, Scott Whaley was hidden for years in the Athletics' bullpen. So I did an online search for him the other night, and discovered he never played in the major leagues at all. The only way he actually pitched "for Oakland" was because the team name was on his minor-league paychecks -- and how many free dinners could he get waving those?
An online baseball registry shows Scott Whaley played college baseball at Jacksonville State University, in Alabama. He was a fifth-round draft pick of Detroit in 1982 -- then dropped to the 15th round, when Oakland took him in the 1983 draft. So why not brag on TV that you were drafted by Detroit? After all, the Tigers were in the World Series this year.
If Scott Whaley ever actually pitched for the Oakland A's, he would be listed in the team's all-time roster - but we checked there, and his name is missing. So did the team forget him somehow? Or is there some sort of "curve ball" being tossed here?
Did Liftech hire Scott Whaley, knowing he never actually pitched in Oakland? Apparently not. When your blog called the business Wednesday, two employees told us it was the first they'd heard of it. This raised more questions -- because you know how crafty some of those pitchers can be.
"He wore a major league ring," a man who described himself as "one of the employees here" at Liftech told me. Hmmmm. If you follow Dwight Gooden or Darryl Strawberry into the right pawn shops, you can buy all sorts of collectibles....
Another man at Liftech asked me point-blank: "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Well, that's up to you," I answered. "I thought you might be concerned that a pitcher distorting his record might impugn your business." And if that happens, customers might call their own version of a balk.
The Columbus phone book has no listing of a Scott Whaley, so we didn't know how to get in touch with him. Maybe he had moved on to a different town, to do similar ads. And let's face it: saying you pitched for Oakland sounds a lot more impressive than saying you played for Jacksonville State.
But we heard from Scott Whaley indirectly late Wednesday, when an attorney for Liftech called us. Alfonso Whitaker was concerned about what we were going to post here. And if a business's attorney is concerned, a blogger and potential defendant becomes VERY concerned.
Alfonso Whitaker admitted Scott Whaley only played for minor league teams with the Oakland A's. But Whaley doesn't feel like he misled anyone, because the Athletics were his employer. "It's a matter of semantics," Whitaker explained -- and he's right. Any low-level federal employee can claim he works for President Bush, too.
"It's a short commercial," Alfonso Whitaker added - so there's no time in a 30-second ad for Scott Whaley to say he pitched for minor league teams. Well, let's see. "Former pitcher for the Oakland A's" has six words. "Former pitcher in the Oakland organization" also has six words, and only four more syllables.
But I pointed out to the Liftech lawyer that most people might hear the phrase, "former pitcher for the Oakland A's" - and he's labeled as such on the TV screen -- and conclude Scott Whaley actually played in the major leagues. If he said he pitched for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, it could be debatable....
Alfonso Whitaker wanted to see what we would post in advance. I politely told him he can read the results right here, and then decide what course of action the company should take. It's up to Liftech whether it wants to "lift and separate."
But back to the Liftech employee's question - what SHOULD the company do, if Scott Whaley did in fact distort his record in that commercial? I'm happy to offer some creative suggestions:
+ Admit it in a follow-up ad -- then do what baseball managers so often do: bring on a relief pitcher.
+ Put Alfonso Whitaker and Scott Whaley in a room, and have the attorney ask tough questions. That would make great television - and it's too bad this is a blog, not "Dateline NBC."
+ Sue Scott Whaley, to get the endorsement money back. Judge Joe Brown could leave Whaley feeling like he'd given up four grand slam homers in an inning.
BLOG-BLAH-BLAH: Is Scott Whaley's commercial claim misleading or not? E-mail us, and we'll post your comments here.
E-MAIL UPDATE: At last! We've finally heard from "IsOurCitySafe" about the Columbus elections. And what does he have to say?
Hey BOB...you lost...go pick your campaign signs up. They are littering our city.
It's always nice to hear from a gracious winner....
It IS time for all the campaign signs to be removed, since the Georgia runoff election is over. Well, maybe we should give Nathan Suber another couple of days for those provisional and military ballots.
As for public safety and the mayor's race: WDAK played tape Wednesday of Mayor Bob Poydasheff saying the officer shortage is down to 22. He claimed the number could drop to zero by the end of the year. If all of the outgoing mayor's aides leave for police jobs, it just might happen.
Police issues top our look at the Wednesday news headlines:
+ Chattahoochee County officials confirmed the county police force was shut down Tuesday. A county commissioner said Chief Ken Suddeth has left as well. So what if the county wins its appeal at the Georgia Supreme Court? Will Chief Suddeth be arrested for reckless endangerment?
+ WRBL reported Russell County JROTC instructor Lee Washington was acquitted of improperly touching a student. But I expect from now on, cadet inspections will be visual only - and even then, the inspectors might wear sunglasses.
+ The Auburn Bank inside the Phenix City Wal-Mart was robbed, and police say the suspect left a suspicious package outside. We recommend other potential robbers avoid doing this - and instead, stand in the long customer service line with everybody else.
+ The United Health Foundation rated the healthiest U.S. states, and ranked Georgia 42nd out of 50. The score is due in part to Georgia's low high school graduation rate - and you teenagers should take a break from web-surfing right now, and walk around the block.
+ WDAK radio reported several high school basketball game times have been shifted, because of Friday's football semifinal. Carver will play today. Shaw will play Saturday. But Spencer's game with Harris County, too?!?! Does the school district expect that many students to skip class?
+ WIOL/WEAM-AM sports talk co-host Rachel Baribeau confessed she once attended a wedding wearing headphones, so she wouldn't miss a football game. Who knows how many single men wanted to dance with her at the reception....
SONG OF THE DAY: In honor of the big high school football semifinal, we change the words to a Nat King Cole December classic:
Wake at three a.m. and light a fire -
Stumble 'round to find your shoes.
Scrape the ice off the windshield, and
Find lucky stuff so we won't lose.
Everybody knows a playoff in the early morn
Doesn't seem to be quite right.
Football players, with their minds on the game,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
They know a showdown's on its way,
And on the Georgia Dome's nice turf they're gonna play.
And every Mom and Dad is gonna try
To get off work, to watch those passes fly.
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To Carver, and to Shaw High, too --
Please don't take a nap when bands play at the half!
And best wishes to you!
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Our Friday entry will be a bit different - as we'll have real-time blogging of the Carver-Shaw semifinal football game. Watch for "pre-game coverage" here, beginning early Friday morning. Then we'll follow the live action from 9:00 a.m. on.)
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