The story of Astros ace Justin Verlander and Detroit Free Press reporter Anthony Fenech continues to create headlines two days after Houston barred Fenech entry to the team clubhouse.
Verlander responded, prompting a retort from the paper’s sports editor. The Baseball Writers Association of America also has released a statement and Major League Baseball said it “communicated” to the Astros that they may not block reporters from the clubhouse.
“Per our Club-Media Regulations, the reporter should have been allowed to enter the clubhouse postgame at the same time as the other members of the media,” MLB vice president of communications Mike Teevan said in a statement today. “We have communicated this to the Astros.”
— Detroit Free Press (@freep) August 22, 2019
Recapping the incident
After Verlander pitched Wednesday night against his former team, the Tigers — he allowed two runs on two hits in a complete-game 2-1 loss — reporters approached the clubhouse as usual. However, Verlander had instructed team officials that he would not speak to Fenech, the Tigers’ beat reporter for the Free Press, nor speak to other reporters while Fenech was around.
Security blocked Fenech from entering for six minutes while other reporters spoke with Verlander. When that interview was complete, they allowed Fenech locker room access.
Once Fenech alerted his readers what had happened, word spread quickly. By the following morning, there was uproar about the Astros, whose actions had violated baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.
Verlander felt compelled to tweet out his side of the story. Or at least tweet out that he had a side of the story. He declined to share exactly what it was.
I declined to speak with the @freep rep last night because of his unethical behavior in the past. I reached out to the @freep multiple times before the game to notify them why and to give them an opportunity to have someone else there. Ironically they didn’t answer.
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) August 22, 2019
Clear as mud
The Free Press sports editor, Chris Thomas, said he had not heard from Verlander nor his agent. He later discovered a voicemail from Verlander’s agent left at noon Wednesday, the day of the game. Of course, even had he received the call and agreed with the agent’s suggestion to send another reporter to the game, there was no way to get anyone from Detroit to Houston in time for pre-game interviews anyway.
Thomas and Fenech both have invited Verlander to air his concerns, which as of Friday morning are still somewhat unclear.
(The rules, by the way, state that Verlander is free to decline to answer questions from a particular reporter, but that a reporter cannot be barred from the clubhouse simply for what he or she writes.)
Read @anthonyfenech‘s statement: https://t.co/f9JMd2tJ7r pic.twitter.com/frzj3QhUaZ
— Detroit Free Press (@freep) August 22, 2019
