Chapter 73

As he had so many times in the past, Brock shared a ride home with Al. The pair barely spoke for the first half of the ride home.

"You're going to have to get over that," Al said cautiously. "You can't go off on a reporter each time they ask you something you don't like."

"Why not?" Brock asked.

"They have a lot of power," Al replied.

"They think they have power but it's an illusion," Brock told him. "What are they going to do? If they make up something and run it, I'll put them out of business. If they harass me, I'll find them sometime when they're alone and make them pay for it in another way. Seriously, Al, what are they going to do?"

"Ignore you," Al answered. "Tarnish your reputation, wait until you do something stupid and then pile on top of you. There are any number of things they can do. Right now, you're a fan favorite. No one is going to try to deny that. But you don't sign every autograph or chat with every person who approaches you on the street. Say tomorrow you walk past the autograph line and there is some kid with cerebral palsy there. The next morning, you'll read about how you snubbed a kid whose last wish in life was a few minutes of your time. It's close enough to the facts that it isn't actionable. If a story or two like that pops up every week, suddenly, the fans don't think you're such hot shit any more. Or worse, say you actually do something stupid – like get into a fight or get a DUI. The next thing you know, you'll be seeing your mug shot pop up on television 30 times an hour. Brock, these people are petty and vindictive. They also have long memories. I'm just saying that if you make this personal, it's liable to create as many problems for you as it does for them."

"So I'm just supposed to eat a shit sandwich because these bastards were too stupid to get into law school?" Brock asked bitterly.

"I didn't say that," Al said. "You can do what I do. I learned it from Esmi. You can pick it up from Meredith. What does Meredith do when you say or do something stupid?"

"Smacks me on the arm," Brock answered.

Al laughed.

"Well, I guess that won't work in this case," he admitted, still smiling. "Anyway, Esmi gives me this look. It's like a question, 'Are you really that stupid?' and a statement, 'You really are that stupid.' rolled into one."

"Yeah, Meredith has that one, too," Brock said.

"When I get a question like that last one, I give them the look and shake my head sadly," Al told him. "I'll either ignore the question or simply tell them that I'm not going to answer it. You seem to think if one of these guys asks you something that you're obligated to answer them. You're not. The real journalists who cover us know about the problems in their profession. Find one or two of them that you can stomach and just roll your eyes at the rest of them. Right now, you sort of treat them all the same. Well, except for Tara and she can't really go to bat for you week-in and week-out. Make friends with one or two of the guys we see every day. They'll make sure that your side of the story gets out. I'm not saying you invite them over for Christmas dinner or even get to know their kids' names. Just sort of cultivate them, give them a scoop or two – the ones that you usually give to Tara. Let them get to know the real you."

"What does that mean?" Brock asked.

Al sighed.

"Well, it's like this," he said. "Off the field, no one had a bad word to say about you. On the field, you're kind of a dick. We play for the same team, so I appreciate it. If we didn't, I'd probably hate you if all I saw of you was between the lines."

"Really?" Brock asked.

"On the field, yeah," Al said. "It's not that you're arrogant or condescending. It's that you play hard. You get invested in the outcome of every game. You don't have a problem calling out other players or even other organizations for their shortcomings. I hate to even mention his name but look at Carter Repling. In the grand scheme of things, he should never even enter a conversation about baseball. The Diamondbacks are two or three years away from being contenders – and by the time they are, Repling will be long gone. But he pissed you off and you've made it your mission to belittle him every chance you get."

"I know this sounds childish, but he started it," Brock said.

"Yes, but it's still going on a year later," Al replied. "At the All-Star Game, you could have just said that everyone is entitled to his opinion and let it go. Instead, you pointed out to anyone who would listen that Repling only got on the team because he's a baby who threatened to file a grievance. We all know it's true – everyone who knows baseball knows it's true. It wasn't necessary to continue saying it in every interview you gave. He's got supporters in the league. He was on the union council for a number of years. Because you kept piling it on, he somehow went from being the bad guy to being the good guy. It got to the point where the All-Star manager didn't dare play him. He was afraid that if Repling made an error that cost the National League the game – and we managed to make it to the World Series – you'd ask the league to investigate if Repling threw the game on purpose."

"That's ridiculous," Brock said.

"It's the way it is," Al said. "It's how you are perceived outside of Los Angeles – well, and probably Cleveland. The Phillies manager came to him before the game even started and told him he wouldn't play unless the game went into extra innings. My point is, Repling isn't the only one. You could have just as easily answered the question tonight with the standard response: 'It's a play that happens sometimes in baseball and it's unfortunate that someone was injured.' You know, you didn't even say you were sorry Zapruda got hurt?"

"I'm not sorry," Brock replied. "If he got hurt, it's because he was somewhere he shouldn't have been. If the same situation occurs tomorrow, I'll do the same thing, Al. And I'm not going to couch my answers to the media in some PC bullshit to appease people. That's not who I am. If I come off as a dick, then I guess it's because I probably am a dick. But I'm not going to pretend to like someone when I don't."

"What about Driesbach?" Al pressed.

"That was different," Brock replied. "Yeah, he was a douche when he first came over. But no one gave him a chance, either. Everyone took one look at him and decided he was a pecker. I just gave him enough room to figure out how things were on his own and to decide if he wanted to fit in or not. I can say that after the first week or two, I didn't dislike him in the slightest. So that isn't a valid example."

"So if it's a teammate, he gets some slack," Al tried. "If it's an opponent, he doesn't."

"Pretty much," Brock answered with a shrug. "When I was in prison – and really until a few months after I was out – I thought I could depend on no one but myself. I figured out later that I was wrong but it took a lot of patience from the people I consider my friends. They had every reason to drop me and forget about me. But they didn't. They stuck up for me and they stood up to me. They did for me what I did for Matt. I gave him a chance to look at what he'd become and to decide if this is how he wants to go through life. When I was younger, those girls were my teammates. Not Meredith necessarily, but Jen, Mel, Susan and Tara.

"I know some people think I'm stupid for remaining close to them in spite of some of the things that have happened. But they had my back when no one else did. Now I have theirs. When Jen was a freshman in college, she got into a philosophical dispute with one of her professors. The woman took it out on her when she graded her assignments. I could have jumped in and made a scene. Instead, I stayed out of it except to let her know I'd help her in any way she needed. She finally had to threaten a lawsuit to get the woman off her back. The university appointed a special proctor to grade Jen's work. The same was true when Mel and her husband had problems and when Susan came back to California. The only time I intervened directly was when Tara was being sexually harassed by a member of the basketball team. But she never found out about that so it doesn't count."

"I'm not sure I see the correlation to what we're talking about," Al admitted.

"They were my teammates and I supported them whenever they needed it," Brock said. "If it was money or time or space or whatever, I gave it to them for no other reason than we were part of a team – or at least I considered us part of a team. Those outside of the team? Fuck them. If they got in our way we steamrolled them. We bypassed them or we buried them. The professor didn't get tenure. The last I heard, she was working at a college that is far less prestigious. Mel's husband can't find a job washing dishes in a restaurant right now. Susan found a role in life that suits her."

"And the basketball player?" Al asked.

"He got the chance to learn to play with a mask on his face," Brock replied casually. "I put a pretty good hurting on him but he claimed it happened in a pickup basketball game. I told the coach it didn't mean shit to me what he said so long as the guy left Tara alone."

"So you don't care how the rest of the world views you?" Al asked with a resigned sigh.

"See, that's not a yes or no question," Brock replied. "I care greatly what certain people think of me. I hope you know that you're one of them. But the world at large? Their opinion doesn't mean a thing to me. Do I care if the sports writers think I'm a jerk? No. Do I care if the Diamondbacks or the Marlins or the Astros think I'm a jerk? Not in the slightest. But I do care what the guys on the team and what the fans in Los Angeles think of me. Because I care about those two groups, I will do my best to tone down my comments and to think about how the rest of the league might view me. But only because those things affect how the team at large might be viewed."

It was more than Al had hoped for when he sat down opposite Brock.

Meredith was solicitous to Brock's injuries when he got home.

She checked to make sure his ribs felt OK – despite the fact the trainers had done that in the locker room – and she asked about shoulder stiffness and range of motion for his arm.

"I'm fine," Brock said. "I'll be sore tomorrow but they checked to make sure nothing was damaged before I ever went out for the next inning."

Meredith looked chagrined but she nodded.

"Hey, it's good to know you're looking out for me," Brock said, kissing her on the forehead. "But I should probably warn you that you might be getting some calls in the morning – as my publicist, I mean."

Brock noticed Meredith went from concerned to peeved in world-record .0002 seconds.

"What did you do?" she inquired.

"Do?" Brock asked. "I didn't really do anything. It was more of what I said. I got into a slight verbal altercation with one of the trolls in the locker room."

"Trolls?" Meredith wondered.

"Writers, TV journalists, bloggers, whatever," Brock admitted.

Meredith shook her head helplessly.

"Brock," she began but then cut herself off. "Well, let's see how bad it is."

She turned on the TV to the ASN News Network then collected her laptop from its case and opened Mozilla. She typed in "Brock Miller Locker Room Tirade" and seven videos were at the top. She knew that any of the cameramen in the room would have uploaded the content not only to their employer but also to the internet.

She and Brock watched for the 24 seconds the clip aired.

"Well, you only cursed once," she said with a sigh. "Of course it was the big one but I've seen worse. I'll get a statement out in a little while. What was your beef with her?"

"She's an idiot," Brock replied. "I thought it would be obvious what my beef is."

Meredith chuckled.

"I suppose I should have asked what specifically did she ask you," Meredith admitted.

"It wasn't what she asked," Brock clarified. "It's never what she asks. Her questions are always stupid and have nothing to do with anything. She takes rumors and gossip and then asks a question to get you to step into a hole. That's her gig. It's what her online magazine does to everyone. Do you remember the question right before the season about how the fans were treating Driesbach? That was her. Harris' ex-wife was arrested in Michigan for embezzling money from a charity. She asked him if he thought it was because he fought the amount of alimony he paid during the divorce.

"It's how she asks the question that insults everyone. Tonight, she asked about the little tiff I got into with the first baseman after I was hit by a pitch. I had just explained that the catcher got hurt, in part, because of the poor throw to home. She asked if he and I were bickering because of how I was unprofessional when I was batting. I explained it before I told her to fuck off. Then Al came over and told me I couldn't say things like that. That pissed me off even more so I went off on him, telling that I wasn't going to take shit from the media any more than I would from some idiot on the street. I told him that I had no plans to answer a question from that bitch again. She turned around when I said it and smirked. You saw the rest."

Meredith nodded. She glanced up as the Dodgers highlights came on "This Night in Baseball." Of course they showed the ball dropping in front of Brock for the first run. Then they showed him running over the catcher to tie the game. Before they showed the rest of the highlights, they went to a clip of the Giants' manager. Meredith turned the volume up.

"There is no place in baseball for plays like that," the man stated. "That was classless. He had ample opportunity to slide but instead he hit a defenseless player. They don't allow hits like that in football. I don't know why we insist upon allowing them in baseball."

The scene cut back to the commentators.

"As might be expected, Dodgers manager Jim LaCross had a slightly different viewpoint," the announcer said.

The TV moved to a clip of Jim sitting in his office.

"It's a problem that the Giants instigated," LaCross said with a shrug. "They've done it for years. They teach their catchers to stand in the baseline, and then they cry when he gets the (bleep) knocked out of him. You don't hear anyone else (bleep)ing about this (bleep). Every other team in baseball shows the catcher the proper way to play the position. We sure as (bleep) do. I can't remember our catcher getting hit like that in the entire seven (bleep)ing years I've been here. (Bleep) the Giants."

"Brock Miller's take was similar to his manager's," the commentator stated.

"Here are the facts," Brock said from the TV. "You have two people you can blame for the severity of Zapruda's injuries. You can blame the catcher for blocking the base path or you can blame your first baseman for making a lousy throw. I will not accept the blame for what happened when it isn't my fault. You will note, in the eighth inning, that I slid when it was appropriate."

"We'll come back to this in a moment, Seth," the announcer continued. "But let's see what happened in the eighth inning."

The screen showed Brock getting drilled in the ribs and him jawing with the pitcher on his way to first base.

"That was clearly a 'purpose' pitch," Seth Adams cut in. "That was the Giants manager and the pitcher taking exception to Miller's behavior in the sixth." "Yes, but Miller and the Dodgers made him pay for it," the lead announcer stated. "Matt Driesbach followed with a single to right, chasing Miller to third. Here is what the Dodgers' outfielder referred to in his comments."

The scene cut to the ASN's play-by-play of the event.

"Two-and-oh on Sanchez," the Dodgers announcer said. "Up and away and it gets away to the screen. He comes Miller, play at the plate, oh my! A picture-perfect slide and the Dodgers lead 2-1. Rex, that was pure hustle."

"The ball got there in plenty of time," the color man said. "It bounced off the wall and directly into the catcher's hand. By all rights, Miller should have been out."

"The pitcher closed his eyes!" the play-by-play man said. "Look at the replay, Rex. Miller slid to the outside and the pitcher had no idea of where he went. That is beautiful!"

The screen flashed to the abbreviated box score and then back to the set of "This Night in Baseball" where Seth Adams and Curtis Duey sat.

"Seth, you said you think Miller should have slid in the sixth," Duey intoned. "The replay seems to uphold Miller's take. Zapruda was well up the line and straddling the baseline."

"He's entitled to the baseline on a play like that," Adams opined.

"And the base runner isn't?" Duey wondered.

"It's the runner's job to avoid contact in that situation," Adams said.

"Since when?" Duey asked.

Adams looked confused by the question.

"Why is it the base runner's responsibility?" Duey said again. "It would seem to me it would the fielder's responsibility to set up in a way he can make the play and avoid the hit. It's the second baseman's job to get out of the way on a double play. No one bats an eye if the base runner dumps him on a double play if he's anywhere close to the base path. I wonder why you say it's the base runner's job at home and nowhere else."

"It's the base runner's job everywhere," Adams said. "If there is a bouncer on the infield, the runner can't obstruct the fielder even if he is in the base path."

"That's a batted ball," Duey said dismissively. "This is a live-action play. The rules are completely different. If the second baseman has fielded the ball and stands in the line, he's fair game. You know that. Or at least you should know that."

"I do know that," Adams said forcefully. The look on his face made Brock wonder if he was telling the truth.

"Also, Jim LaCross made a valid point – one that Miller echoed in his remarks," Duey said. "This appears to be a problem that exists solely with the Giants. Oh, there have been other collisions at home plate. But they are relatively rare. Rough research shows us that this no less than the eighth time in two seasons that the Giants have been involved. That doesn't even include the gruesome injury that Chris Meadows suffered in Milwaukee two years ago. You played for the Giants for two years. Is this something they teach there?"

"I wasn't a catcher," Adams said.

"True, but you were around the infield," Duey pressed. "Is this something they practiced?"

"That's something I don't want to get into," Adams replied with a frown. "It's not the point."

"It is the point," Duey said. "You might not want it to be the point, but I'm afraid it is the main issue that needs to be considered."

"The main issue is whether Brock Miller is a dirty player," Adams countered. "You don't need to look past the replay to answer that."

Duey shook his head as he looked at the camera in disgust.

"Well, I think you might have trouble backing up that contention," he said. "We'll have more on this contest when we come back after the break."

"I'm going to find Seth Adams somewhere and pound his face into silly putty," Brock declared when the segment ended. "What a tool."

"Let it go," Meredith advised. "He's a tool and now everyone knows it. At least they didn't have anything from the locker room."

"Wait until after the commercial," Brock said with a frown.

But the station went to highlights from the Orioles and Yankees when it returned. Brock and Meredith watched the rest of the half-hour highlight show but not a word was spoken about the locker room incident.

"We'll that's something," Brock said. "Maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it was."

"Maybe everyone agrees with you," Meredith suggested with a smile. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Meredith found out early the next morning that she was wrong. Not everyone agreed with Brock's assessment of the talents of The Daily Sports Report writer. The news organization played it up and linked to a video they acquired the rights to.

It wasn't until the third or fourth call that Meredith got the chance to look at what the website had posted. When she saw the video, she was even angrier than Brock had been the night before.

The video had been edited, omitting the reporter's comment that Brock's behavior was unprofessional. It also cut out some of his comments explaining why he didn't like the woman.

Brock was in shower so Meredith made a call to Stan Balsam herself. Like Meredith, Stan had received a host of calls on the subject but he had shrugged them off. Things like that happened all the time in the sporting world. When Meredith told him the site was presenting an edited version of what happened he was livid.

"I'll handle it," he promised.

Meredith knew Stan was good at what he did but she also knew he had limits to what he could accomplish. She decided to go proactive, just like Brock would do.

She logged onto the website and went to the comments section. There were the usually internet trolls, claiming that things like this epitomized everything was wrong with sports. There were fans of other teams – notably the Giants and Diamondbacks – who made unkind comments about Brock and the Dodgers.

But a larger group seemed to understand the blog was notorious for presenting only one side of a story. Meredith registered on the site – as much as she hated to – just for the purpose of posting a comment. She transcribed the interaction verbatim from another version of the video and found several other videos of the reporter in question that showed some of her other provocative statements disguised as questions.

She imbedded the links in her comment and hit send to post it just as Randi came through the front door. Randi had spent the evening with Hailey and Karen after the game. They were closer to her age and they were what she considered typical college girls. She felt more comfortable acting crazy around them than she did around her older, more established friends.

"What the hell is up with Brock?" she asked. "Chris turned to a sports station on the way home and we had to spend 10 minutes listening to the announcer defending Brock. What did he do this time?"

Meredith showed Randi the link to the video on the site and then what Brock had really said.

"What a bitch," Randi said.

"That's what I said," Meredith muttered. "I got Stan trying his hand at getting the real story out. But I posted this just to make sure."

"The site will pull it in a heartbeat," Randi said.

"That's what I hope," Meredith replied. "I don't think Brock cares if what he said is actually out there. But to chop it up to make him look stupid will really piss him off."

"I meant your comment," Randi said. She reached over and copied the contents of the post and then hit refresh. Sure enough, the comment was gone when the site came back.

"Cocksuckers," Meredith said.

"Watch this," Randi said. She repeated the process Meredith had done. Then she repeated the post until her fingers go tired. "Let them delete all of those. Douche bags."

"What's going on?" Brock asked when he came out. He saw Randi's fingers flying over the keyboard.

"I've got it handled," Meredith said. "Don't worry about it."

"I wasn't worried until you told me not to," Brock said, raising his eyebrows.

"They edited your comments to make you look like a peckerhead," Randi said. She ignored Meredith and turned the computer so Brock could view it. Brock didn't speak but simply clenched his teeth and nodded.

When the video had finished he picked up his phone.

"I've already called Stan," Meredith said.

"Good, he needs to know about it," Brock said. "Thanks for thinking of it. I'm calling the team. I told her last night that if I had my way, they'd pull her credentials. Well, I think she just gave me all I needed to get it done."

Brock's call to Media Relations didn't go as he thought it would. Pulling the credentials of an established media organization had to be approved by the Commissioner's Office. The woman Brock spoke to was sympathetic but she was honest. She didn't think it would be possible to get a ruling from the commissioner for several days on the matter.

Brock formulated another plan as he drove to the stadium for the second game of the series.

Brock went upstairs to the team offices upon his arrival at Dodgers Stadium. Meredith had compiled 10 or 12 clips of the woman from 'The Daily Sports Report' mixing incendiary statements thinly veiled as questions.

The woman accepted the DVD with a heavy sigh.

"The commissioner made his ruling," she informed Brock. "He said although it was unethical, it didn't create reasonable grounds for removing the credentials. The best we could do was to request that the company sends a different representative. We made that request and the company laughed at us. She will be in the locker room after the game. I'm sorry."

Brock nodded. It would do no good for him to get angry with the team's employee. It was obvious that she had done what she could.

"Thank you for trying," Brock said instead of screaming like he wanted to.

"I am sorry," the woman replied. "It's a travesty. Sadly, this isn't the last time that something you say will be taken out of context. I worked in the industry for several years. This is one of the reasons I quit. You and I agree on this, Mr. Miller. I've become embarrassed to tell anyone that my degree is in journalism."

Brock gave a half smile.

"Well, at least you got to use your degree," he said. "I might as well have majored in baseball."

"Do you know that you are one of only five players on the team with a college degree?" she asked, apropos of nothing. "In our entire organization, more than 200 players, we have a dozen who graduated college. We have a higher number of players without a high school diploma or equivalent than we have with bachelor's degrees. I find that to be an absolute shame."

Brock wasn't sure if she expected a reply so he simply frowned and nodded his agreement.

"I'm sorry," the woman said again. "I had a point. I'm trying to convince the team to give a series of lessons on public speaking next Spring Training. I want to teach the players to stop using 'uh' and 'you know' as crutches. That's what's so funny about what you said. You didn't stammer or stutter. In fact, you even used a few words that I'm sure that woman had to run home to look up. Last year, our security protocols were copied throughout the league. I hope that next year, it could be how we interact with the media."

"Present company excluded," Brock said with a chuckle.

"Absolutely not," the woman replied. "Present company most certainly included. You are perhaps the best public speaker we have on the team. You look at the person who asked the question and you answer it. You do not delve into what I term 'sports colloquialisms.' You do not cast your eyes upon your shoes and keep them there. You keep your voice level and project it so even those in the back of the gathering can hear you. And you do not shy away from questions. If it asked, it is answered. It might not always be the answer someone expects or wants, but it is answered. I review every player interview. It's part of my job but it also lets me make suggestions about who we use to front the franchise, as it were. When Al Perez first arrived in Los Angeles, he was terrified to speak.

"He had an accent that was part New York and part Hispanic. His vocabulary was deficient and he rarely said anything more than the tried and truisms of all sports: 'We'll take it one day at a time;' 'We just tried to play within ourselves.' I hate them. I absolutely hate those phrases. I hated them when I was working for a newspaper and I hate them now that I'm on the other side of the coin. But Al learned and progressed. As he became more comfortable with himself, he became more comfortable around others. When that happened, he took a step forward. It is not only his play that makes him the team's franchise player. It's not only that he donates money and time to the city. It's because he can stand in any forum and speak knowledgeably about whatever he wants to discuss.

"In the past, we have tried to find others to take some of the burden off of Al. Wade is too shy; Josh is too flippant. Some of the others were either ill-prepared for the tasks or were considered too much of a risk by the team. But now you're here. You've given the city a second face to associate with the Dodgers. It helps tremendously that you're willing to be seen. You do not shy away from living your life. Your publicist is among the best I've dealt with. I sent your agent a note telling him that she deserves a raise. He said I should discuss it with you because you hired her and she works directly for you. So, I'll mention it while it is on my mind. The young woman deserves a substantial raise."

Brock smiled.

"Well, she'll get half my net worth in January," he joked. "That's about all I can do."

The woman looked confused.