Paper Has Credentials Revoked After Publishing Players' Addresses

Over the last few years as blogs have entered the mainstream for people seeking information on the internet, there's been a lot of controversy over what's kosher and what isn't with blogs. Whether people are getting upset about a blog saying they think a player may be using steroids without concrete proof, or posting pictures of athletes out at a bar with a bottle of Jack Daniels in their hand and a bevy of beauties on their arm, there are plenty of examples of blogs dancing back and forth over the line of what's responsible reporting and irresponsible.

But don't worry, this isn't another post about which side is right, and which side is wrong. No, this is just a post being put up on a blog to let the world know that it's not just bloggers who step over the line from time to time.

Take The Riverfront Times for instance.

With the All-Star Game taking place in St. Louis this week, the paper put out a handy guide for fans in St. Louis and those visiting letting them know everything they could ever want to about baseball in St. Louis. Of course, they also decided to post the home addresses of both current and former Cardinals baseball players, and now they've had their credentials revoked by MLB.

Last Thursday afternoon I got a call from Brian Bartow, the St. Louis Cardinals' director of media relations. Bartow said the team had seen and loved the Riverfront Times Guide to All-Star Week, a special supplement this paper had published the previous day -- all except the part where we revealed the home addresses of some current and former Redbirds luminaries.

The players, Bartow said, were particularly peeved, especially Pujols. So upset were they, Bartow told me, that the ballclub felt it had no option but to instruct Major League Baseball to revoke the credentials they'd granted Riverfront Times to cover the All-Star Game, and to rescind our credentials to cover the team over the course of the regular season.

That excerpt is from a blog entry by Tom Finkel of The Riverfront Times. He calls the entry an apology, but after reading the entire thing, it becomes clear the only thing he's apologizing for is possibly causing Pujols to have a sub-par All-Star performance.

He doesn't seem remorseful at all for publishing Albert Pujols' address -- he even goes as far as to give readers directions on how to find it themselves -- along with other Cardinals luminaries like Ozzie Smith, Al Hrabowsky and the great Stan Musial. Instead he says it's his right thanks to freedom of speech, and though that may be true, it doesn't make it right.

We've seen in the past that athletes can have altercations with overzealous fans and stalkers from time to time. Monica Seles was stabbed during a tennis match. To publish the home address of an athlete, or anyone in the spotlight, is wholly irresponsible.

I'm not saying that anybody is going to attack Pujols or any of the other players who were listed because of this, but if somebody wanted to, it would be a whole lot easier now wouldn't it?

A person's home is their home. It is not public domain. If you want to show up at Busch Stadium and let Pujols know how much you think he sucks, that's your right. But much like when you go home after a long day at work, Pujols deserves his privacy at his own home with his family.

Maybe Finkel should publish his own address in tomorrow's paper so any players who were upset by this can go over there and voice their displeasure personally.