“Bradford on Baseball” Becomes “Bradford Files” for Herald; Manny Needs to Tuck in His Pocket

By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

The region’s hottest media man, Rob Bradford begins his first day at the Boston Herald today, Wednesday April 25 and his final Bradford on Basbeall posting (at the ever-weak Lawrence Eagle-Tribune site) explains a bit of where we’ll now be able to find “Blogford,” the multimedia star (WEEI, FSNNE and the Herald).

Instead of keeping the ET’s BOB address and switching the affiliation to the Herald, Bradford and the Herald are starting a new spot for his on-line missives which will borrow the name of Bradford’s old Eagle-Tribune column, the the “Bradford Files”, where he’ll provide what he calls a “ESPN.com’s Page 2 vibe.”

UPDATE: Bradford’s first post is here. Strong debut, as we’d expect.

The Herald has secured the rights to the www.bradfordfiles.com site and although that might not be up and running (or linking) currently, Bradford will begin blogging at either the “Clubhouse Insider” or his own, new Herald page beginning today, from Baltimore.

There was a last minute snafu that wound up making the use of the fledgling “Bradford on Baseball” page unfeasible at Bradford’s new employer, the Herald (likely, we’re guessing, caused by some clueless E-T suit who needed to justify his own unjustifiable salary by playing the “no”-man).

No worries though - Bradford’s exposure and reach will automatically be increased substantially simply by getting on the Herald site and it’s not the worst thing to have a new “brand name” with which to hail the Bradford arrival at the Herald.

. . . Having been a huge fan of the Rockford Files during some wayward summers and college days, we love the correlation between the suave and resourceful Jim Rockford and the slightly snarky and equally resourceful Rob Bradford. (All-time best episode - The Rockfish one - involves Isaac Hayes as Gandolph “Not Bill” Fitch. Non-negotiable and non-refundable assertion, that is.)

. . .Manny’s days of being Manny will likely never end, but you better expect his days of being an Untucked Pocket Guy are about to end. Especially if someone like Bradford were to jump on the issue.

Left, File Photo from October 2004 with pocket dangling, like it was Tuesday night at Fenway; and right, one from the weekend series with New York

A week ago, MLB informed the Tiger’s Carlos Guillen that he was in violation of the league’s dress code.

If Guillen was a fashion faux pas, than Manny Ramirez is also a blatant offender of the Selig dress code, having played Tuesday night’s home game against Toronto with his left rear pocket dangling in the stiff wind at his back. Ramirez has, like Guillen, long been a pocket dangler.

For a league that can’t get its house in order as it pertains to steroids, the pocket rule is a complete joke. However, selective enforcement of any rule will not be something the League can afford to do, so you’d better expect Manny’s Messy Mannyness to be squashed in the coming days once the issue gets a dose of Boston attention (See: Pizza Punks on Patriots Day).

The reported fine is $1,000, although it’s not clear if that is a per-offesne fine or a one-time assessement, provided it doesn’t happen again. For a guy who was selling his grill on EBay, it doesn’t seem like Manny would be wanting to lose a K per game.

Someone needs to pick up the baton on that one for me - Hello, Deadspin?

. . . We’re back on Friday in our regularly scheduled spot and we’ll have details of a Saturday Pub Crawl that you’re all welcome to pop in on. To borrow a couple of lines, the Crawl is a “ social experiment” to make benefit the great magazine of Boston Sports Review.