Justin Verlander's Alleged Beef With Detroit Free Press Reporter Anthony Fenech is Beyond Idiotic
By Michael Luciano
The Detroit Free Press, who covered Houston Astros star pitcher Justin Verlander for the 13 years he starred with the Tigers, found themselves unable to get close to Verlander after his start against the Tigers last week.
Verlander cited "unethical behavior" by Anthony Fenech, one of the Press' reporters, as the reason that he decided to prevent the paper from getting access to him. If these stories are true, then Verlander's beef with Fenech is the height of pettiness.
The reasons for Justin Verlander's beef with Tigers beat reporter Anthony Fenech are far dumber than expected. https://t.co/4GJ5XKXxe8
— Matt Lindner (@mattlindner) August 26, 2019
Hmm, where did it all begin?
Fenech tweeted that Verlander, who had been discussing his love of astronomy with Tigers Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline, traveled to Nashville to watch the solar eclipse back in 2017.
Verlander, an admitted astronomy enthusiast, traveled to Nashville to watch the eclipse in its fullest totality, he said.
— anthony fenech (@anthonyfenech) August 22, 2017
Verlander went nuts after this tweet and was to have berated the reporter, as he claimed Fenech revealed a private conversation between him an Kaline. Even if he did, it's just about the solar eclipse. Who cares?
It gets weirder. During a 2018 interview that went on and off the record, Fenech gave Verlander his business card and said that if he wanted to add anything further to the conversation, he could call him before the print deadline, saying that he wanted to maintain their working relationship.
At this point, Verlander lost it, claiming that Fenech was trying to use this as an attempt to get his personal cell number.
Although I tried to avoid this situation altogether, I’ve still reached out to @freep multiple times today with no response. They’re still not interested in my side of the story.
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) August 22, 2019
This is clearly as case of Verlander misreading the temperature of the room and the meaning of Fenech's actions. Now that the reason for the beef is out in the open, it seems incredibly petty on Verlander's part.