A foul ball in baseball goes viral but MTSU Professor of Journalism Dr. Larry Burris searches for what really happened:
Back in the good ol' days, and you know when those were, you had to wait probably 24 hours for the latest news, which meant reporters had a lot of time to gather information, clear up conflicts and put together a fairly comprehensive review of the truth.
If there was a mistake, news organization had another 24 hours to publish a correction probably everyone would read. And the truth would prevail.
Remember last week's baseball scandal: The Chicago Cubs first base coach caught a foul ball and flipped it to a child in the stands. The kid dropped the ball, and a man behind him picked it up and gave it to his wife, breaking one of the cardinal rules of baseball: you don't steal a ball from a kid.
The resultant video, as you might expect, went viral, and the adult fan was roundly condemned across all media platforms. News stories excoriated him and I imagine people tried to find his name and address so they could get him fired from his job. Such is the world we live in.
Sensing a public relations victory, Cubs management soon gave the young fan two baseballs, one signed by infielder Javier Baez.
But wait, here's the truth, as if anyone really cares: the man gave the ball to his wife, who took a picture of it, then gave to another young fan.
Further, it turns out, witnesses say the man had helped the original child get a ball earlier in the game.
I wonder if everyone around the world who saw the original video, and read the original stories about this supposedly horrid fan, and passed judgement on this supposed villain, has seen the corrected versions? I bet they haven't, and I also bet they don't even care what the real truth is.
I'm Larry Burriss.
