MJS Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt announces retirement

[homer]

I think Tom inferred that Rosiak would still split the duties with someone else.

[TigerUppercut]

again they have a 2nd beat writer, Tod Rosiak. I think succession is very smooth.

 

Brewers are the #2 beat in the state. Yes they will probably bring someone young as a backup beat writer, so he isn't writing every day.

 

Pretty sure Rosiak transferred to the Brewers beat from preps when Drew Olsen left the MJS. They've always had two full time guys on that beat, likely due to the travel and big schedule. It wouldn't surprise me to see Ben Steele, who covers Marquette athletics, or Mark Stewart or Curt Hogg, the preps reporters, transfer to the Brewers beat.

 

Rosiak covered Marquette prior to moving over to the Brewer beat. As for TH, I will forever remember him for his post-game interview "questions" which weren't really questions but statements guiding the player or coach into an obvious response...36 years of challenging nobody in the organization. Best wishes to him but next man up.

[adambr2]

I like how the mlbtraderumors.com article about it said Tom "broke numerous transactions" lol. Tom never broke anything. He was lucky if he knew before the average BF.net poster.

[jason21nl]

Good riddance

[Austin Tatious]

Let's be honest, we can upgrade big time. Longevity does not equal talent. I never interacted with him once, because he wasn't worth my time.

 

He has one of the biggest human flaws, an inflated view of his own intelligence and a condescending attitude to his readers, many of whom are considerably smarter than he is.

[PinaMadness]

Good riddance.

[StearnsFTW]

Let's be honest, we can upgrade big time. Longevity does not equal talent. I never interacted with him once, because he wasn't worth my time.

 

He has one of the biggest human flaws, an inflated view of his own intelligence and a condescending attitude to his readers, many of whom are considerably smarter than he is.

 

Truer words were never spoken.

[BrewCrewForever]

Tom was fine. I never thought he went into great depth or presented anything that everybody didn't already know. He seems like a good guy and was respected by his peers. His big issue was when fans were able to interact with him via the old JSOnline boards or twitter. I think once he found the "block" feature he got better

 

Kind of the way I feel. His writing was pretty good, but he never really broke any news and he just became so crusty on twitter. Happy for him that he gets to retire. Even happier we have amazing writers like McCalvy and Sammon on the beat.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I've always found MJS coverage to have abhorrent knowledge of the Minor League system. Possibly not a fair criticism, as it is not the team they cover.

[patrickgpe]

Also i do not think a large portion of the fan base cares much about the minor league system. Not all brewer fans are reading baseball america and visiting message boards.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Sort of what I was getting at. This falls under the "no new information" evaluation that has already been levied. To provide actual value to a more dedicated fan, coverage of the minors, of which there is basically none, would be necessary.

[RobDeer 45]

Tom was fine. I never thought he went into great depth or presented anything that everybody didn't already know. He seems like a good guy and was respected by his peers. His big issue was when fans were able to interact with him via the old JSOnline boards or twitter. I think once he found the "block" feature he got better

 

Kind of the way I feel. His writing was pretty good, but he never really broke any news and he just became so crusty on twitter. Happy for him that he gets to retire. Even happier we have amazing writers like McCalvy and Sammon on the beat.

 

Exactly how I felt about the guy. Never disliked him, but was never excited about anything he did. I had a feeling he was probably a little smug, especially if he was ever called out. I hope he has a good retirement and glad to hear may of the people around him thought he was a good guy.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Tom was fine. I never thought he went into great depth or presented anything that everybody didn't already know. He seems like a good guy and was respected by his peers. His big issue was when fans were able to interact with him via the old JSOnline boards or twitter. I think once he found the "block" feature he got better

 

Kind of the way I feel. His writing was pretty good, but he never really broke any news and he just became so crusty on twitter. Happy for him that he gets to retire. Even happier we have amazing writers like McCalvy and Sammon on the beat.

 

Exactly how I felt about the guy. Never disliked him, but was never excited about anything he did. I had a feeling he was probably a little smug, especially if he was ever called out. I hope he has a good retirement and glad to hear may of the people around him thought he was a good guy.

 

I think this is pretty fair. I always got the feeling that if fans and readers were jerks to him, he returned the favor. Part of me wonders if those here saying things like "good riddance" aren't perhaps holding a bit of a grudge because they fell into that category?

 

Haudricourt is a solid writer who is miscast as a beat writer in the era of social media. His gamers were typically solid if not very good, and his features and notes columns typically were quality and featured enough nuggets of info to keep you interested. I'm personally not real excited about Rosiak being the lead beat guy, as his gamers appear as though they are written on a template, and he has next to no social media presence. Whoever they find as a tag-team partner will be a big deal, and likely play a big part in whether I continue to subscribe. Robert Murray is a terrific beat writer, and I really wish an outlet would find a way to get him back on the Brewers beat. But I imagine the MJS will likely promote someone from within.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

 

I always got the feeling that if fans and readers were jerks to him, he returned the favor.

 

Small point, but if he was only a jerk to people who were jerks to him, he probably wouldn't be so disliked by many. Heck he might even be revered for that in this day and age. I never had any direct interaction with him but I saw him be awfully jerkish to people for no reason. I've seen his interactions and heard them (radio) and the guy just oozed hate for fans.

 

I hope he stumbles upon this thread so he can see how he rubbed off on people.

[Jopal78]

I've always thought the invective towards Haudricourt was misguided and wrong.

 

I'd be stunned if some middle aged guy from Ozaukee County decided the thing missing from his life was a Twitter presence. Most likely his Twitter account was a job based requirement working for Gannett Co., to get clicks, views and more ad revenue for Gannett. Then on top of being compelled to have a Twitter presence, ravenous fans do nothing but make personal attacks calling him an idiot, lazy, bad at his job, etc. I don't fault the guy one iota for being a curmudgeon on Twitter giving the circumstances.

 

As for his articles, he's writing for a major Wisconsin newspaper not a baseball magazine, or even a sports themed publication. As someone else pointed out, casual Brewer fans are the target audience and by and large they don't care about the farm system, the coaching staff's use of analytics, etc. Not to mention the behind the scenes dealings with deadlines and editors which shape the articles significantly before they hit publication. (Also the primary difference between Sammon at The Athletic and McCalvy with MLB.COM) And I'm sure Haudricourt got emails daily from fans calling him and idiot, lazy, and bad at his job.

 

Clearly, Haudricourt knew the Brewers organization in addition to the professional game. He was also well respected by his peers in the industry (in fact he was a contributor to Baseball America's Prospect Lists for the Brewers). For those who fall into the camp that hated his work, unfortunately I wouldn't anticipate better as newspaper (especially sports department) budgets are miniscule and the reporter to fill the opening he left will likely be some green college graduate from the sticks with no connections in the game or understanding of the unwritten operations of the league.

[MrTPlush]

The thing is though....he didn't have to respond or even look at the responses. Like I am sure many don't.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The thing is though....he didn't have to respond or even look at the responses. Like I am sure many don't.

 

As someone with the experience of working in the media for nearly 20 years, I think that is very much easier said than done.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Curt Hogg

@CyrtHogg

Baseball news has been Not So Good this week, so let’s shake up that trend a bit.

 

I’m excited to announce I’ll be moving to the Brewers beat at the Journal Sentinel. Grateful for all the people that helped make a dream of covering Major League ball a reality. Let’s ride, MKE.

 

Young Mr. Hogg it is. Pretty cool to see a young local reporter who grew up a huge fan of the Brewers and MLB get this shot.