Joe Morgan Insults Ernie Banks

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst and baseball Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan isn't exactly the most beloved figure in baseball or the blogosphere. I mean, the man has a blog dedicated to rooting out the idiocy in the sports media coverage of the game named after him (I live for the day I write something stupid enough for FJM to attack me).

The reason for this is that Joe says a lot of things that are poorly-informed or just outright incorrect. The latest instance took place on Sunday night while Joe was working the Cubs/White Sox game.

In the fifth inning, when Eric Patterson hit a two-run homer into the wire basket that overhangs the right field wall, Morgan referred to the basket as "Banks Boulevard," and then went on to talk about how many Ernie Banks homers ended up in the Wrigley bleacher baskets back in the day - the implication being, of course, that many of Ernie's 512 career homers were cheapies, and that he would have hit considerably fewer without the help of those right- and left-field baskets.

It turns out that "Banks Boulevard" is a phrase that Joe has been using for a while when describing the nets at Wrigley Field, and that he maintains that's what "everybody" referred to them as while he played.

Just one slight problem: the baskets weren't put in at Wrigley Field until 1970, and Banks retired after the 1971 season. How many of Ernie's 512 career homers came at Wrigley during that span? Seven, including his 500th which was hit well into the seats.

This discrepancy has caused Cubs blogs and fans to threaten boycotting ESPN until Morgan issues an apology, and though I find that to be incredibly idiotic, I still offer my full support for the movement. I'll do anything that could possibly lead to not having to deal with Joe anymore.

(Arm bash to Walkoff Walk)