Former Nationals manager Jim Riggleman has had an interesting last 24 hours. After telling the Nationals’ brass that he’d quit after yesterday’s game if he didn’t receive a contract extension, and holding true to his word after such job security was not extended, Riggleman, 58, hit the town last night and enjoyed some adult beverages in the company of some attractive coeds. Then today he joined Bruce Murray on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Radio and let everyone know what he thinks of sports columnist Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post.
“I read that nonsense Tom Boswell writes, and I’ll say this: Tom Boswell has tried to be the impetus behind me not being the manager here for a long time. He is a master of the half-truth. A half-truth can be more dangerous than a lie. He prints just enough nonsense that can paint a picture.
“But he’s become such a snake and such an impetus to have me out of there, [and] he’s just written so many snide remarks. That type of stuff from such a well-respected columnist throughout the country, to get away with that nonsense, I’m just bringing it to your attention, that that’s the kind of stuff that gets written that is totally false.”
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Murray then asked whether Riggleman thought the Nats’ front-office was overly influenced by Boswell’s writings.
“No. Not at all,” Riggleman said. “I think that the people who buy The Post and read it, you know, they see some of that stuff. And there’s just enough truth in there to get somebody’s attention, but he never tells the full story. He’s never interviewed me, he never talks to me and asks me these questions. He just writes negativity.
“And in his own words, he grew up at the knee of the great Earl Weaver. And nobody respected Earl Weaver more than I did. I’m a Marylander, I loved the Orioles and Earl Weaver. And he loves Earl Weaver, he thinks Earl Weaver invented the game, and that the Oriole Way is the way to go, and let’s get an Oriole in here. Never mind Jim Riggleman. He never thought I was the right guy for the job, and he likes to think he was the impetus of me not being here. But his opinion is so non-respected around that ballpark that I shouldn’t even be mentioning his name.”
The Oriole Way? I don’t think you should be mentioning that, either.
(Source: Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post)