Defeated before the opening pitch

The home page of :The Undefeated” reads: “Presented by ESPN & Jason Whitlock. Coming Summer 2015.”

Maybe. Maybe delayed.

Either way, without one of the country’s most prominent African-American sportswriters, Whitlock. Deadspin, using internal documents and emails, painted Whitlock as a “catastrophe” as a manager.

Now, so does Whitlock’s bosses at ESPN.

Reminds of many smooth talkers who came to the BJ in management positions, but the rank and file recognized immediately that they weren’t up to their title.

Management would keep them around for 12 to 18 months, to avoid admitting a mistake, then one day you’d show up for work and they were gone without explanation.

Even Babe Ruth struck out. But he never pretended that he had hit a home run instead.