I owe Dayn Perry an apology, and if I had his phone number I’d call him right now (granted, I’m writing this from a library). Instead, I’m sending him this via Twitter.
In a poorly thought-out post from a while back, I ripped Perry for presuming the thoughts of his book subject, Reggie Jackson. You can read the post here, though it clearly sucks. Perry responded today with his own post, noting that I’d pretty much done the same thing in my Clemens book. And you know what? He’s right. I can try and justifying the passage by saying that: A. I interviewed myriad people who know Clemens very well, and who talked with him about his future Hall speech (which I did); B. Clemens had talked often (in private) to people about how he wanted to handle the Hall; his need to be surrounded by all those past teammates; to make peace with his brother; etc … etc (true and verified).
But, truth be told, that justification doesn’t fly. I hate—truly hate—writers presuming thoughts. I don’t like that Perry did it, I loathe that I did it. It’s a weak way to go; it really is. Because when the material is as strong as it should be, there’s no need to ever do so. E-v-e-r.
So I apologize to Dayn Perry (pictured above with his tyke). It was a stupid post, and you’re 100 percent correct in calling me out.
I deserve it.
