MJS Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt announces retirement

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

LONG time Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt just announced via Twitter that he plans to retire in February:

 

I know a lot of posters here are not big fans of the guy, but please don't turn this into a bash Tom thread. The longevity of his career should be applauded. He also seems to have a pretty high level of respect among his peers and MLB as a whole.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Ron Robinson's Beard

[MrTPlush]

Greatest news of the offseason.

[djoctagone]

he hung on longer than expected. i chatted with his brother on the metro after the nationals series in washington. he told me that he was going to retire after that season or the next.

[wibadgers23]

Prime example of someone who should never have been allowed to interact with fans on social media. Never cared for the guy but congratulations to him I guess.

[Joseph Zarr]

Given the JS tendencies these days, I'll be curious to see who they pull off the Packers beat to suddenly cover the Brewers and MLB.

[nate82]

He was ok as long as he wasn't interacting with the fans and his rankings for prospects were just whatever the team said were the best prospects very little thought was put into his rankings.

[patrickgpe]

Drew Olson famously nicknamed him the prince of darkness, and it was for great reason. I did enjoy reading his articles and am not a twitter guy, so those bashing him for how he interacted with fans I can't speak to. In 36 years he has seen almost everything and I am his replacement will be a young reported like what MJS always does.

[nate82]

Drew Olson famously nicknamed him the prince of darkness, and it was for great reason. I did enjoy reading his articles and am not a twitter guy, so those bashing him for how he interacted with fans I can't speak to. In 36 years he has seen almost everything and I am his replacement will be a young reported like what MJS always does.

 

I believe he used to comment in the comment section on the MJS site also from time to time. I think those were worse than his Twitter ones but I could be not remembering this correctly it has been about 10 or so years since I have seen comments on the MJS articles. Though I don't really blame him for those comments it was like the people commenting there had a brain of a drunken 3-year old.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Drew Olson famously nicknamed him the prince of darkness, and it was for great reason. I did enjoy reading his articles and am not a twitter guy, so those bashing him for how he interacted with fans I can't speak to. In 36 years he has seen almost everything and I am his replacement will be a young reported like what MJS always does.

 

I believe he used to comment in the comment section on the MJS site also from time to time. I think those were worse than his Twitter ones but I could be not remembering this correctly it has been about 10 or so years since I have seen comments on the MJS articles. Though I don't really blame him for those comments it was like the people commenting there had a brain of a drunken 3-year old.

 

It's really the same thing with Twitter. If a fan reacts negatively to him there, he has never been afraid to give it back. Perhaps one of the aspects that does downgrade him is his lack of patience with those who ask somewhat remedial or naive questions, or make similar comments. It's almost as if he has always expected the fans he interacts with to have the similar knowledge base he always brought from being paid to cover the team for nearly 40 years. That type of attitude could certainly rub some the wrong way.

 

But most of the time, he was muting or blocking jerks. And being Twitter, there are a lot.

[patrickgpe]

This forum has had posters over the years that had to get blocked because of how obnoxious they were. Im sure Tom saw that daily. Granted its probably wiser to not poke the bear and block them and move on, but not every can do that. Was a lot easier before twitter when the worse you would get is a letter to the editor every once in a while.

[Roderick]

... Granted its probably wiser to not poke the bear and block them and move on, ...

 

Actually, I assume the media companies want clicks in whatever shape they are. I doubt many are blocked.

[SomewhereInTime]

Greatest news of the offseason.

 

Agreed! This is outstanding news!

[DuWayne Steurer]

An ok writer with paper thin skin.

[brewmann04]

Good luck was always courteous to me

[MNBrew]

We all have our flaws. The guy was a dedicated professional and did his job quite well for a long, long time. That's honorable, and all the more so when other baseball media folks responded to his announcement on Twitter with the compliments that they did.

[AdvantageSchneider]

He saw a lot of really bad baseball. Kudos to him for sticking it out as long as he did. Long enough to see the best run in franchise history.

 

That said I would not mind someone with a little more youthful energy and a little more analytic mindset to cover the team.

 

Tom H seemed to get scooped quite regularly by outside sources for one of what 3 guys on the brewers beat.

[patrickgpe]

I'd imagine Rosiak would just be covering fulltime, maybe assistance by one of the general sports reporters. I wouldn't expect a national search to replace him.

[MrTPlush]

I remember him getting so annoyed by the simple minded fans (saying Counsell sucks after the bullpen blew a game) that he ran a few articles that were basically bashing fans and explaining why they are dumb. It was really quite strange and he couldn't stand any negativity towards the team/GM/coaches that he felt the need to defend them like his first born child way too much. A few years back he basically went on banning sprees because people didn't like how Counsell used the pitchers.

 

His articles weren't very good, his opinions were outdated, and his insider knowledge was terrible. Pretty sure half the time his insider knowledge or belief from within the organization was him telling us his opinion based on nothing.

 

Should have retired before social media and analytics.

[StearnsFTW]

Congrats on a long career. I never found him to be particularly informative, but he was OK overall.

 

I've had several personal interactions with him for my work. Let's just say I'm not a fan.

[MoreTrife]

Be careful what you wish for. With the broken journalism system these days, we're likely to get some 22 yr old working for minimum wage who can't write a lick and doesn't really care about the Brewers. As Julian hinted at, Jim O. covering the Bucks coming from Packers beat. At least Tom cared and had experience.

[MrTPlush]

Be careful what you wish for. With the broken journalism system these days, we're likely to get some 22 yr old working for minimum wage who can't write a lick and doesn't really care about the Brewers. As Julian hinted at, Jim O. covering the Bucks coming from Packers beat. At least Tom cared and had experience.

 

Gotta be honest, MJS articles sucked so bad I am used to not reading them...so...I wouldn't even tell the difference at this point. The 22 year old could at least know how to work Twitter.

[homer]

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

[Outlander]

Wish him best in retirement, his time as a Brewers writer has run its course so time to move on.

[patrickgpe]

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.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

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.