September 20th, 2006 → 9:09 am @ Seth Mnookin // No Comments
Yesterday, Peter Gammons posted his first ESPN column since suffering a brain aneurysm earlier this summer (or, as Gammons would surely say, earlier this season). (Article available to ESPN Insider subscribers only.)
Peter was without question the nicest, smartest, most knowledgeable reporter I met while working on FTM. There were folks who wanted to know what some punk was doing wandering around Fenway and getting unfettered access to everyone in the organization, folks who felt any new reporter should spend a year or two proving his mettle, and folks who just ignored me. (There were also many more folks who were lovely and nice and generous with their time.) Peter was the polar opposite (of the first group, not the second). From the night I had dinner with him in spring training, he constantly shared his time and insights, and watching games with him from his seats behind home plate was one of the joys of the last year.
Gammons’s return will certainly give Sox fans plenty to talk about. In his first column, he gives an obligatory tip of the cap to the Yankees’ acquisition of Abreu; he also writes that “no races turned in July or August on the transaction page”…which should provoke some debate among those members of RSN convinced that this or that trade would have catapulted the Sox into the playoffs. (Gammons also addresses a topic I think will become an increasing source of discussion among fans: the extent to which the new economics of baseball effect the free-agent market: “‘The story of the trading deadline and the last couple of free-agent classes should be titled, Revenue-sharing is working,’ says one baseball executive,” Gammons writes. More on this in a future post.)
Tonight, Gammons will be broadcasting live from Fenway for both the 6 pm edition of Sports Center and the 7 pm edition of Baseball Tonight. That’s great news for everyone. Welcome back, commissioner.
Post Categories: Peter Gammons
