Late on March 31st, 2010, in Eugene, Oregon, a press release was dispatched from the single-A minor-league baseball team Eugene Emeralds headquarters to all the media in town, and all the major outlets across the country. It read that the Ems had signed suspended Oregon Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to pitch for them that summer…
There were two immediate things that said “April Fool’s Prank.” One, that minor-league teams had long lost their ability to sign players on their own. Two, Masoli was at the time suspended from the Ducks for his role in an electronics theft from an Oregon frat house. On the field he had just led the Ducks to their first Rose Bowl since 1995, where they lost to Ohio State, and was seen as the QB of the future, but after the burglary, his future was cloudy, to say the least. (He would never play for the Ducks again.) I was not the sports anchor that night, but I was there. The guy who was the sports anchor who got the release first yelled and startled everyone, and then did what you would expect anyone to do if they got a press release like that at 10:30pm on March 31st: they called the Ems and asked if it was a prank…
And here’s where things went terribly wrong: the Ems said it wasn’t…
All three Eugene teevee stations made the same phone call, and all three were told it was legit, so all three led with the news less than half an hour later at 11 o’clock…
The morning of April Fool’s Day the Ems front office held a hastily-assembled news conference saying that it was in fact a prank and they were sorry. They had intended for the joke to make the east coast national early morning radio, not in fact lead the local 11 o’clock news. The daily newspaper tsk-tsked the teevee stations more than the team, saying “we knew it was a prank all along,” their uppity noses on full display, when in fact the only reason they got away with it was because the release was sent after their print deadline…
A number of people asked why all the teevee stations went with the story when it was pretty obvious it was an April Fool’s prank, and my answer was then, and still is now: “We called them and asked if it was a fake and they said it wasn’t. If they had told us it was a fake we might have played along with them, but they didn’t…”
It’s notable that this was in the days before “fake news” ruled the earth. Nowadays no media outlet would’ve taken that press release seriously. But 14 years ago, this was considered a serious breach of integrity. The Ems also had a brand-new front office and were playing in a brand-new stadium that summer and this was their real opening salvo with the press. So yeah, it was a bad look and there were consequences…
The three Eugene teevee stations settled things with the team three different ways. One was so incensed by the prank that they “didn’t have enough resources” to cover any Ems games in person that summer. They instead drove an hour each way to put the nearest amateur college summer league baseball team on teevee instead and the Ems were a full-screen scoreboard. The other said they were “too busy” to cover Opening Day at the new ballpark and generally didn’t show up during the week, but the weekend guy needed content, shrugged, and went to those games. As for the station I worked for? We discussed doing some version of either, but decided it would make us look like we couldn’t take a joke. So we said “Eh, they got us, it happens” and covered them like normal, going big for Opening Day and the like…
As a result, they liked us the most and gave us exclusives the rest of the time I worked in Eugene. Hey, take the inside scoop where you can get it. So there were some positives…
My big takeaway is this: If you’re doing an April Fool’s Day prank, and somebody asks you straight out if it is a prank and you realize this might open up a huge Pandora’s Box you never thought of, say “Yes, it’s a prank.” It’s one thing to pretend it’s for real when it’s amongst a group of ten people. It’s another when you’re sending a press release to every news outlet in the country…
SADLY, NOT A PRANK DEPT: The Pac-12 Network, in it’s final days as the conference dissolves, just doesn’t care anymore. An Arizona-UCLA baseball game this last week went to extra innings, and there were no announcers for the extra frames. Apparently, they just left after the 9th inning, like they had something else to do and said “What’re they gonna do, fire us?” Or they were told the network wasn’t paying for overtime. Or something. This is why you’re going out of business, fellas…
ALSO NOT A PRANK: Last week the San Francisco Chronicle (a newspaper who also likes to tsk-tsk people) said it looked like the A’s would play the next three years in Sacramento, at the home park of the Sacramento Rivercats, who happen to be the Giants triple-A affiliate. So, local media asked the Rivercats GM about that. (Coincidentally, the question was asked by the same person who was so incensed at the Ems Masoli prank that they refused to cover the Ems at all that season. But I digress.) And he said: “We’re not going anywhere. We’re playing all our home games here for the foreseeable future…”
And what happened this weekend? Well, the A’s got a lease option from the city of Oakland, and I would be surprised if they didn’t sign it soon. Of course, the A’s have surprised me a lot recently, and not in any good ways…
A few thoughts on the MLB Opening weekend:
I told you the Angels and Rockies would be awful.
I did not think the Mariners lineup would be so incredibly toothless. They have great pitching, but they can’t hit a thing.
The Braves look as expected. Which is to say: exceptional.
And if the Giants can have Blake Snell pitch half or three-quarters as good as he was last year when he won his second Cy Young, they can make a run. Logan Webb is the ace, Kyle Harrison looks legit, Jordan Hicks looked good in his first start, and Snell is scheduled to pitch Wednesday. That’s four solid arms. The fifth starting job might be a revolving door, based on how badly Daulton Jefferies got shelled on Sunday in San Diego. But four legit starters will make a team look really good, and the lineup looks like it can hit a bit…
Finally, a salute to catcher Joey Bart, designated for assignment by the Giants on Sunday. He never really had a chance. The last first-round pick by the pre-Farhan Zaidi regime, he was forced to play in the 2020 season when Buster Posey opted out and his confidence took a hit I really don’t think ever recovered. Not only that, but the Giants took Patrick Bailey in the first round of the 2020 draft. You don’t draft two catchers with your top pick in three years unless you’ve already decided the first one isn’t your guy. And they took Bailey in the pandemic year when you couldn’t see any prospect in person at all. The writing was on the wall then, it just took almost four years to come true…
But a final reminder, just in case: If the Ems send a press release saying Bart is going to play for them this summer, don’t believe it…
And, if Ray and Cobb can pitch anywhere near their top form when available, the Giants rotation has the potential be formidable.
The key may be Doval, Walker, and the Rogers twins. Can they finish games?
Engaging, wonderful Eugene April Fools' story! Way to wrap the bow!