Posted By: Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Yesterday on The Dan Patrick Show, MLB Network analyst Al Leiter came on to discuss the controversy surrounding an explosive article about the Red Sox’ late-season collapse.
Check what he had to say about that and if there was/wasn’t a porn room at Shea Stadium after the jump…

In case you’re just joining us, the Boston Globe published a piece yesterday that painted the Red Sox clubhouse as an uninspired one: the starting rotation supposedly drank beer and played video games during games, every team leader besides Dustin Pedroia stopped leading, and veteran players like Tim Wakefield started caring a bit too much about personal milestones.

Since the article’s publication there has been a debate about just how much the supposedly apathetic clubhouse environment in Boston played into their terrible September. On the one hand, eating chicken and drinking beer while your season is going up in flames: probably not the best idea. On the other hand, these kinds of things were happening on September 3rd, before the collapse, when the team was 84-54 and looked like a World Series favorite. Why weren’t the bad clubhouse vibes affecting them then?

Back to today: Leiter, who pitched for the New York Mets from 1998-2004, was asked if this supposedly toxic environment in Boston’s locker room was really that bad in the grand scheme of things. Don’t all baseball teams do things like this? Weren’t there distractions in the Mets’ clubhouse?

Specifically: wasn’t there a “porn room” in Shea Stadium?

From what I can see, there is no record of a Shea Stadium porn room. There is no evidence of it on Google, and whatever story Patrick was referencing doesn’t seem to exist on the internet — it very well could be one of those mythologized things, like the Holy Grail or your friend’s dad’s collection of Playboys, that is widely rumored but never confirmed.

Thus, Leiter could’ve easily dismissed it as a rumor. We would’ve believed him, and everyone would’ve gone on with their day thinking there was no such thing as the Shea Stadium porn room.

Except… Leiter seemed to be caught off guard by the question. He fumbled for an answer. He laughed uncomfortably. He talked about “political correctness” and how things were “different” once upon a time, and how the old ballparks had “nooks and crannies” where guys would… sleep. As he tried to explain away the non-existent porn room, the porn room seemed to exist more and more.

In short: it sounds like ol’ Shea Stadium had a porn room.

WRITTEN BY SportsGrid / Dan Fogarty  & FULL STORY HERE