Last week, the Riverfront Times in St. Louis put out a special All-Star week section in which the paper inexplicably ran the home addresses of former and current St. Louis Cardinals players. Literate denizens of St. Louis, of course, could have gone here and, for no fee, found the information themselves. Nevertheless, Albert Pujols wasn’t happy.

Last Thursday afternoon I got a call from Brian Bartow, the St. Louis Cardinals’ director of media relations. Bartow said the team had seen and loved the Riverfront Times Guide to All-Star Week, a special supplement this paper had published the previous day — all except the part where we revealed the home addresses of some current and former Redbirds luminaries.

The players, Bartow said, were particularly peeved, especially Pujols. So upset were they, Bartow told me, that the ballclub felt it had no option but to instruct Major League Baseball to revoke the credentials they’d granted Riverfront Times to cover the All-Star Game, and to rescind our credentials to cover the team over the course of the regular season.

Seems a bit harsh, no? We’ll agree it was unnecessary for the paper to print the information, but to punish them for the remainder of the season? Why not just meet the writer for dinner, and then when he walks out the door, have Pujols et al waiting to put a trash bag over his head and beat the guy up?

Don’t Blame Pujols: An Apology (RFT Blogs via Romenesko)