MLB Notebook: Fox fires Lyons for insensitive remarks
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Fox baseball broadcaster Steve Lyons has been fired for making a racially insensitive comment directed at colleague Lou Piniella's Hispanic heritage on the air during Game 3 of the American League championship series.
The network confirmed yesterday that Lyons was dismissed after Friday's game. He has been replaced for the remainder of the series by Los Angeles Angels announcer Jose Mota.
"Steve Lyons has been relieved of his Fox Sports duties for making comments on air that the company found inappropriate," network spokesman Dan Bell said.
Piniella had made an analogy involving the luck of finding a wallet, then briefly used a couple of Spanish phrases during Friday's broadcast.
Lyons said that Piniella was "hablaing Espanol" -- butchering the conjugation for the word "to speak" -- and added, "I still can't find my wallet."
"I don't understand him, and I don't want to sit too close to him now," Lyons continued.
Lyons claimed he was kidding. "If I offended anybody, I'm truly sorry," Lyons said in a phone interview. "But my comment about Lou taking my wallet was a joke and in no way racially motivated."
Thanks again
Before Ken Macha left Comerica Park, he made one last stop in Oakland's empty clubhouse to see Frank Thomas. The skipper shook hands with his 38-year-old slugger, almost always the Athletics' last player to leave, and thanked him for a fine season. "It means something," Thomas said of Macha's words. "I'm being honest, it helped turn my life around [being here]."
Oliver's twist
Three months ago, Oliver Perez was toiling in the Pirates' minor-league system, lacking control and confidence. Now, he's preparing to pitch Game 4 for the Mets. "It wasn't a long decision. We needed a fourth starter, and he pitched well for us this year," manager Willie Randolph said. "We like his stuff. It was down to either him or Dave Williams, and we felt like he was the guy that would give us a quality start."
Mad about Albert
Angry that Albert Pujols was criticized for saying Tom Glavine "wasn't good, he wasn't good at all" after the left-hander pitched shutout ball for seven innings in the opener, La Russa got into the discussion. "It's very irritating to me because I know Albert respects the game, respects people in it. If a guy burns with the competition and you get him 10 or 15 minutes later, he's liable to say something that's not really how he reflects. Albert doesn't disrespect Glavine."
First Published October 15, 2006 12:00 am
