The time Jim Moore made Jerry Dipoto mad

Trigger words, the Mariners win a three-game series against their East Coast stepbrother and another example of why no one likes Josh Donaldson.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Jim Moore at two different places. First we were on the staff together at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and then we worked together at 710 ESPN Seattle where we co-hosted the afternoon show along with Dave Wyman for three years.

Jim once said he hoped to squash me like a cigarette butt. This was when I left the Seattle P-I in 2006 to return to The Seattle Times. Of course, I once spent an entire commercial segment yelling profanities at Jim.

To be clear, I believe Jim to be an absolute treasure. I also know he can be a uniquely frustrating individual. That’s because he’s a true character in a world where there are fewer and fewer people who are honestly and truly themselves. He also has the distinction of having asked THE BEST and THE WORST questions I’ve ever heard in a live interview, which I document here in a weekly column I’ve been writing for a sports-media newsletter.

The powerful effect of trigger words | By Danny O’Neil

An excerpt:

Jerry Dipoto was the general manager, and after a particularly rough stretch of fielding, Jim offered the observation that while he understood this was a rebuilding effort, there was a certain amount of competence expected of a Major League team. Jim then said it was possible he had seen a cleaner game from the youth baseball team his 14-year-old twins played for compared to the Mariners.

Silence. For three seconds.

“We’ve obviously had some challenges in the field,” Dipoto said, proceeding to provide a totally innocuous answer. It wasn’t the last time Dipoto joined our show for what had been a weekly interview. It was pretty close to the last timem though.

Today’s newsletter starts with a summary of a Mariners outfield that suddenly looks promising, why the Orioles are essentially the Mariners’ East Coast step-brother and then another example of why no one likes Josh Donaldson. In fact, he reminds me of a joke that Jim Cornette, a pro-wrestling figure, once said when he was complaining about John Laurinaitis.

“Does anyone like him?” Cornette was asked.

“No,” Cornette said. “His mother slapped the stork who delivered him.”