Who's Got the Beat?

They're leaving because the home team is good.

by E. James Beale

This spring, just a few months after the Philadelphia Phillies' season ended with their second consecutive World Series appearance, and just after they added All-World pitcher Roy Halladay, a funny thing happened: No one was there to cover them. First Scott Lauber, formerly of The Wilmington News Journal, left to head north and cover the Red Sox, leaving the beat in the hands of a basketball guy. Then Andy Martino abandoned his home at The Philadelphia Inquirer after one short season and returned to the New York Daily News, where he'll enjoy his new longer off-season covering the Mets with former Calkins media columnist Mike Sielski, who just left the Philly 'burbs for the The Wall Street Journal's newly created beat. As if three doesn't make a trend, this comes on the heels of familiar faces Todd Zolecki and Jim Salisbury — both formerly of the Inky — leaving the daily for the cozy confines of online journalism. All of which begs the question: Why doesn't anyone want to cover the Phils in print?

There are a couple of prominent theories. First, the sky-is-falling theory: Newspapers simply can't keep their own. It is not totally without merit. Put simply, job security around these parts isn't at an all-time high. And with at least three local sports reporters having been relieved of their duties over the last 18 months — Mike Radano, Ken Mandel and Kevin Roberts—and the ownership situation of the Inquirer and Daily News in flux, it isn't inconceivable that several papers decide to pool their beats, much like what happened in Dallas.

The second theory — the hamburger theory, if you will — is that papers can trot out anyone to cover the boys of summer, and have it be read. There is some truth to this, too. According to the Inky, page views do not rise or fall depending on who writes the stories. Inky sports editor Jim Cohen admits that the beat is increasingly a young person's game. So long as whoever holds the chair is fine with near-constant Tweets, chats and blog posts, the paper seems fine with turnover. In short, it just might not make financial sense for papers to serve top dollar for steak when their customers will pay just as well for hamburger — ergo, another couple of rookies on the beat. Or, theory three: Maybe it's all a coincidence.

"It's not like we all got down to spring training and decided we needed to find a way out," Martino points out. And each of the three did have opportunities that seemed hard to turn down.

While each of these theories have merit, they're all incomplete: Phillies writers aren't leaving because they're not wanted. They're leaving because the home team is good. Really.

Coming off two straight World Series appearances, the Phillies have become as high-profile as any team not playing in the American League East. On top of that, they're choked to the brim with accessible personalities like Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth's Beard, all of whom give scribes plenty to write home about. The team is not only playing through October, but also staying interesting throughout. For writers, that is a godsend.

Call this the Travis Knight corollary. Shaquille O'Neal used to joke that he makes players rich simply because of his presence: "Guys have made livings off me," Shaq said in 2004. "Nick Anderson got a new contract, Travis Knight got a new contract off me. As a matter of fact, Derek Fisher called me yesterday to thank me." (Fisher had recently signed with Golden State.)The funniest part about that quote? That someone gave Travis Knight a second NBA contract. The second funniest part? Shaq's assessment was spot-on.

In the right situation, a player will have opportunities that comparable players simply don't. Just like Travis Knight was left open for jumpers in front of every GM as they watched the playoffs, so, too, have Phillies writers been given the chance to be seen. Now, I'm not saying that Martino, Lauber and Sielski (and Zolecki and Salisbury before them) didn't deserve their new opportunities, but I don't think it is unfair to suggest that they got them not only because of their work, but also because of their visibility.

"Selfishly, this is still a good place to cover sports," Martino told me last week, his last on the job. "It really is."

Guys make their livings off E. James Beale. E-mail him at e.james.beale@citypaper.net.