The Buck Stops Here: ESPN Pulls Out Of MLB Rangers’ Event

ESPN Breaks Up Rangers’ Planned “Baseball Tonight” Reunion

The MLB Rangers yesterday canceled their “Baseball Tonight” event, which was scheduled to replace their annual midwinter banquet on February 4, after ESPN told commentators Karl Ravech and Harold Reynolds to “back out of the event,” according to Todd Wills of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. The event, slated to include a Q&A with team broadcasters, coaches and players, was going to “reunite [Reynolds and Ravech] with Buck Showalter, who was their colleague on ‘Baseball Tonight’ before Showalter became the Rangers manager in 2003.” Rangers VP/Marketing & Entertainment Chuck Morgan in a statement said, “ESPN management has informed our guests they will be unable to attend due to new network policies regarding conflicts of editorial integrity with their talent appearing at events sponsored by the teams they covered” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/11).