Author Topic: Cubs History  (Read 56678 times)

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #375 on: January 30, 2012, 09:11:00 pm »
While listening to NPR Marketplace this evening there was a short essay by Leo Webb, who became a sharp shooter in the military (17 confirmed kills) after pitching and blowing out his arm in AA for the Cubs.  The gist of the essay is that being a good sharp shooter doesn't help one get a job after leaving the military.  Anyhow, I have been following the minors for a while and have not heard of him.  Has anyone?

baseball-reference.com does a pretty good job presenting even minor league records, and they have no one fitting that description.  So it appears you are not the only one not to have heard of the guy.

JR

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #376 on: January 30, 2012, 09:43:55 pm »
How long ago was this guy in the Cub system?

dallen7908

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Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #378 on: January 31, 2012, 09:38:07 am »
This is all I know ...

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/commentary/returning-veteran-has-few-marketable-skills

I suspect the folks at NPR got things seriously wrong, and may have been played.  The report indicates that this is a guy who has very recently returned from service, which would mean that his minor league stats would almost certainly be available at baseball-reference.com, which does not list the guy.  In fact it doesn't list anyone with the last name of Webb who would look even close.  http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl/player_search.cgi?search=Webb

The story also mentions the guy getting shot just outside a Rite-Aid after he returned from the service in Iraq.... but if you google "Rite-Aid Leo Webb veteran" there are no hits that would match a news report about that.  And it is no different if you change the search to "Rite-Aid Leonard Webb veteran."  Replace the word "veteran" in the search to "shooting" and you still get nothing.

Forgive my skeptical nature, but the entire report sounds bogus to me.

Keysbear

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #379 on: January 31, 2012, 11:11:20 am »
NPR got things wrong? Say it ain't so....

jacey1

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #380 on: January 31, 2012, 01:36:50 pm »
call them out on it

davep

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #381 on: January 31, 2012, 02:09:14 pm »
But you have to agree with the major tenet of the article.  Being a sharpshooter in the military probably doesn't prepare you for a lot of civilian jobs.

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #382 on: January 31, 2012, 02:27:06 pm »
call them out on it

I have already posted my doubts at their website where the essay is posted.

Clarkaddison

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #383 on: February 01, 2012, 02:21:46 pm »
Hit man for the Mafia??

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #384 on: February 01, 2012, 05:44:19 pm »
I suspect the folks at NPR got things seriously wrong, and may have been played.  The report indicates that this is a guy who has very recently returned from service, which would mean that his minor league stats would almost certainly be available at baseball-reference.com, which does not list the guy.  In fact it doesn't list anyone with the last name of Webb who would look even close.  http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl/player_search.cgi?search=Webb

The story also mentions the guy getting shot just outside a Rite-Aid after he returned from the service in Iraq.... but if you google "Rite-Aid Leo Webb veteran" there are no hits that would match a news report about that.  And it is no different if you change the search to "Rite-Aid Leonard Webb veteran."  Replace the word "veteran" in the search to "shooting" and you still get nothing.

Forgive my skeptical nature, but the entire report sounds bogus to me.



Wow, after my post on the NPR site, the following popped up there in the last few minutes:

Returning veteran has few marketable skills
by Leo Webb
Marketplace for Monday, January 30, 2012
TRANSCRIPT
Editor’s Note: A commentary by Leo Webb, ”Returning veteran has few marketable skills,” prompted questions from listeners about Webb’s account of his service as an Army sniper in Iraq. A subsequent investigation found that the Army has no record of Webb. Webb also said he pitched for a Chicago Cubs minor-league team. Inquiries to the Cubs and to Minor League Baseball found no record of Webb. Marketplace has an obligation to provide accurate information. That was not met in this commentary. It has been retracted and the text and audio have been removed from the web site.   


That was literally posted in the last few minutes -- I had checked it about 15 minutes ago, and it remained as it had been, and then went back to check something else and....

davep

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #385 on: February 01, 2012, 06:49:38 pm »
Even if every word of it had been true, so what. 

Asia is a continent.

Australia is an island.

The sky is blue.

Military sharpshooters have limited civilian job skills.

An article about any of the above facts would have been equally meaningless.

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #386 on: February 01, 2012, 07:10:00 pm »
dave, when it is NOT true, and there was no effort made at even the most rudimentary fact-checking (which would have shown it was not true), you don;t get to the "so what."

The issue here is not really one of whether the situation does or does not exist.  The issue is whether fantasy and fiction were presented as fact, and whether NPR made any effort to confirm its accuracy or instead went with it without any effort to check because it was consistent with a political agenda.

davep

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #387 on: February 01, 2012, 07:20:49 pm »
My point was that even if every word was true, it was a meaningless report.  NPR was stupid to report it, and even more stupid to fail to fact check it.

jacey1

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #388 on: February 02, 2012, 01:25:54 pm »
i wonder what agenda jes had when he screwed his clients and got disbarred?

Jes Beard

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Re: Cubs History
« Reply #389 on: February 02, 2012, 02:52:49 pm »
jacey, if you bothered to look, you would find that I did not screw my clients.

Do you really think you are telling anyone anything they do not know when you mention I am disbarred?

Or do you think it hurts me to have it mentioned?

Or does mentioning it somehow make you feel better about yourself? 

If any of the above, by all means post it here several times day.