One thing – probably the best thing – I like about getting rid of the younger readers who visited this web site in its early months, the ones who think they are baseball fans but are really WAR and VORP fans, is the remaining readers are clearly adults who appreciate adult writing that uses the English language. If they have an opinion on a particular column, pro or con, they express it in proper English and not gutter language.

They make it possible for me to use what they write without deleting every other word, that is, the offensive language that doesn’t belong here. I appreciate what they write even if they disagree with me. With all of that said, I turn over the rest of this column to readers who have written to comment on recent columns.

ALL THE MISTAKES THAT FIT IN PRINT

Troubling how full of themselves the editors at the Times appear to be. The public does rely on newspapers to get the FACTS correct. History is not like horseshoes, close is not good enough. Glad you tried to set them straight.

– John

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Excellent column….I shared your column about the NYT’s revisionist history with 6 others today. So your circulation is up!

Selective corrections underscore the NYT arrogance.

No one fact-checks anymore. The rush online and to print has created sloppy editing.

I saw a Department of Corrections bus on TV the other day and quipped to my wife that the Times should buy it.

Be well. Keep swinging — and hitting.

– Mike

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I feel your pain. I spent 37 years at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. For most of those years, the paper was held in high esteem among journalists across the country. I took a buyout six years ago, and I now have a hard time reading the paper. It is riddled with errors and mistakes, and no one at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel seems to care. I am embarrassed for the paper, but the editors are definitely not. Such a shame!

– Damien

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Here’s a minor Mistake Fit in Print:

Manny Machado, O’s 3rd baseman, who just won a 2015 Gold Glove, did play shortstop for a few games late this past season when Buck was short on infielders with J.J. Hardy out. You can look it up. Manny happens to be a so-called “natural shortstop” (his normal position in the minors); came up from AA ball, got moved over to 3rd with J.J. Hardy a fixture at the position. Manny has thrived at third base. However, there’s always talk about moving him over when Hardy is done, despite Manny’s comparisons as the second coming of Brooks at 3rd base. Brooks won 16 gold gloves.

He would not be Cal’s successor (who played 3rd base his final few years) …he might replace Hardy some day.

btw: you love to bash your former home away from home at the NYT. It’s become tiresome.

– Len

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You’re missing the point here. The whole newspaper has become a piece of crap. It is a left wing rag. They have replaced all of their veteran writers with college kid and other assorted schmucks with no life experience. I have been reading this paper for over 50 years and the only reason that I still read it is for the crossword puzzle. The mistakes in the sports section are minor compared with the rest of their slanted journalism. And their smugness allows them not to even feel the need to answer emails.

Thanks for letting me vent.

– Rich

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Huzzah. You scored lotsa points. Presented the best – the MM phone number and TJ analogy – last. Here’s one for the old school. Often millenials explain away their mistakes as saying they are new school and that I am an iconoclast.

Others can be New School, but when that other is the NYT – it smacks of simple incompetence.

Some TV “journalists” can’t begin an answer without saying, “So . . . .”

Perhaps the old ethic is too much to keep cultivated in an age of Bluetooth, helicopter parenting and binge-watching.

I loved your most recent column / article. I put it on $TWTR.

– Terry

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EXCELLENT article!!

This is why I have the highest respect for you.

– Arnie

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Good column Murray. But on Machado, you may technically have it wrong. The O’s have announced that he will be moved to shortstop to be their Ripken of the future.

MEDIA MAGNIFY MANFRED’S MINORITY MESS

It keeps going on. Green to the Padres, Mattingly to the Marlins and probably Black to the Nats.

Avila is only a minority in name only. Son of a Dodger V.P. – very much a member of the Old Boys Club.

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I was never surprised that Selig didn’t follow through on his own rule. However, I am surprised that Manfred hasn’t done better.

I thought he would have been more of his own man and tried to bring baseball into the 21st century. I was watching the Jet game last night when I realized the Buffalo QB was Black and I didn’t know that. It was never mentioned in all the games he had played this year. That is something that would not have happened years ago.

It is also something that doesn’t happen in baseball. I know that as a player and not a manager or GM. But both football and basketball do better than baseball although football barely does better.

As your * shows even the Baker hiring has to be discounted. I think they gave it to him because he took less money.

Keep up the good work.

– Mark

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RE: MLB minority hires: All must be calm in Manfred’s office. The No. 1 and No. 2 “qualified” minorities are again employed: Dusty Baker [Washington manager] and Manny Acta [Seattle third base coach]. No. 3 must be Rick Renteria, now on the White Sox payroll. As I have mentioned before, in recent years…4-6, Baker and Acta are the ONLY names that come up. How is that possible?? What a sham!

– Bob

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Another great column and right on point. It is amazing to me how no one else even see this as an issue.

How is it that no one else is willing to raise this issue? Is everyone afraid of losing their job? I was always amazed that a guy like Jose Oquendo of the Cardinals never got a chance to manage. He was the third base coach on teams that won the World Series a number of times. I wonder if he was ever interviewed.

And did Tony Pena ever get another interview? It is hard to believe that a sport with such a high percentage of Hispanic players would not have any Hispanic managers or people getting interviews.

Also, even with half of the Mets team having been drafted or picked by Omar Minaya all the praise goes to Sandy Alderson. Except for the one World Series in 1989 what has Sandy won? I don’t know. Also, he lost with the better team in 1988.

This is just a joke but do you think Manfred will count the Bud Black hiring by the Nationals as a minority hiring since they hired a Black? (Editor’s note: This was obviously written when Black was reported to have the job.)

Keep up the push. Maybe someone will get it.

– Mark

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Minority hiring is, and always will be, a sham. Every time there is a managerial opening, the names Dusty Baker and Manny Acta are “floated.” Good God! Are they the ONLY minority candidates? Both have had their chances, with unspectacular results.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe recently mentioned Kenny Lofton, who is apparently currently “out of baseball”. Lofton was one great ball player…any team could use his passion and knowledge. Cafardo also mentioned the need for manager and GM to be on the same page with “analytics,” as in WAR and WHIP, and all that CRAP…seeming to say that minorities may be lacking in those skills, which all the new GM’s seem to have…no baseball background….just sabrmetric skill.

It is really sad that a great baseball man, Willie Randolph, cannot get a job. And then we have Ruben Amaro going from GM to first base coach with the Red Sox….that really smells.

I guess it’s up to you to continue the battle….draw up a list of the best, most qualified, minority candidates….get away from the current Baker, Acta….nobody else mentality, that pervades not only front office people, but the baseball writing, blogging, media.

– Bob

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You don’t mention a reason or motive for Mr. Manfred’s actions or lack thereof. What are your thoughts?

– Frank

CASHMAN, OTHERS NEED TO BE MORE LIKE MOORE

I also worried about not just who is down on the farm but are the minors producing majors ready players.

Not every player needs to be a Jeter or a Mariano but the players the Yankees brought in are re-treads – players who were in the majors and were brought back up to fill gaps.

I still don’t see shortstop DiDi-G with the Yankees much longer – if he doesn’t do well in Spring training the rumblings will start and if DiDi doesn’t get a good start after opening day – he will be moved to the bench – but the Yankees do not appear to have anyone on the way up.

– Ron

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It seems to me that if you look at any team which wins the World Series and examine how they got there, you will find a trail of some successful drafts, free agent signings, and trades. That is because by definition you are starting with players who had good seasons this past year. Otherwise, they would not have gotten to the WS.

I think a better way to evaluate a GM is to look at the entire record of his transactions. Here is that information for Dayton Moore. It seems to me that there are a lot of swings and misses in his history. Now it’s hard to compare Moore with other GMs on this basis without looking at their overall records. But to be fair to the other GMs, I think you have to do that.

– Richard

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Whether or not we always agree, you inform me and make me think. I believe that’s what columnists and commentators are supposed to do! So, thank you.

This isn’t a criticism or an argument, but a comment. Namely, it has struck me that the new Dodgers executives have been trying to go the right way, but they have taken an unusual approach to doing it. Consider the deal to get rid of Matt Kemp. They wanted some other players and to rid themselves of a clubhouse problem. They dealt him and took on a large chunk of his salary because they could. They are trying to work in youngsters and bulk up the farm system–and, unlike Cashman, they know how to do it, it seems to me. But they have the money to be able to absorb financial hits in the process.

– Mike

MATTINGLY DIDN’T NEED L.A. IF HE HAD MIAMI

I’m sorry that I am unable to press my point to you; or perhaps you just disagree. I defer to your judgment about what would have happened in an earlier stage with Maddon. But Turner was disciplined because Bob Lurie raised bloody hell.

Let me draw a legal analogy in hopes I can articulate my views: there are laws against domestic violence and laws against trespass to property. Both of them used to be enforced only if the victim pressed charges. Now we realize that is a bad idea with regard to the former, and many prosecutors punish domestic violence even if the victim doesn’t want the prosecution; likewise, Commissioners will discipline players even if their partners don’t want the C to proceed. However, if I was arrested for trespassing on your back lawn, and you didn’t care, no one else would either. This does not mean that the police don’t care about trespass.

My point, about which you may disagree, is that tampering is like trespassing. It is not morally wrong; it doesn’t harm society, nor is it conduct detrimental to the best interests of baseball. It is a rule designed to protect the contractual right of each club to players and coaches under contract to that club.

– Law professor

MINAYA’S MEN ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES

Give the current GM his due. The moves he made before the trade deadline were brilliant. And without them the Mets would all be fishing now.

Also Collins totally changed the clubhouse culture. Again without him the Mets would suffer from the Minaya clubhouse culture. Minaya was a mixed bag not a knight in shining armor.

– Ed

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Minaya’s admin signed and acquired good to great players but the Mets never showed a great deal of stability while Omar was in charge. Did he sign Terry Collins? No. (Editor’s note: Minaya hired Collins for a minor league position, where Sandy Alderson found him.) He and Sandy Alderson have provided much more stability and professional calm for the Mets organization. You need to at least acknowledge that fact.

– Mark

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Wonderful article. Similar complaints about the Pirates’ farm system even though 6 of the 8 starters came out of it. Meanwhile the Cubs system is overpraised. Only Bryant, Baez, Soler, Castro and Schwarber were original drafts or signs and no starting or relief pitchers.

Mets system has been great. As with any team built on the draft, it takes patience.

– Marvin

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As I watch the Mets and Cubs the old adage appears to be true – “Money (and lots of Dodger’s money) doesn’t buy Happiness” and in baseball terms “Happiness” is a Pennant or (play in a) World Series.

The Dodgers were a team that could wear you down but I honestly didn’t think they would advance past the Mets and even wouldn’t have been surprised if the Dodgers lost to the Mets – which they did convincingly.

The Mets play as a team of interlocking parts – the Dodger’s area team of individual parts not meshing well.

Question: Can you blame Mattingly – possibly, cause many of his in-game moves were not well thought-out and quite frankly not very smart.

Mattingly acted surprised that some of his players are not playing the game like he played it – Donny baseball style.

Also just because ownership paid huge salaries doesn’t mean the players are now great players or can play team baseball.

But management will make the move and fire Mattingly for a much more experienced manager. Like the Yankees – other than pitching re-tooling of the line-up is in order.

– Ron

WELCOME TO THE WIMPY WORLD OF BASEBALL

I think it’s simple. Utley broke the written rules of baseball. Opinions about manliness or political correctness or how everything used to be better in the past but life now is somehow illegitimate…completely irrelevant.

When you go for the base, it’s a slide. When you go nowhere near the base and instead go for the man, it’s a tackle.

– Terrence