As many of you know by now, Peter Gammons will be leaving ESPN to join MLB.com and the MLB Network. He signed a multi-year deal with them, and will serve as an on-air and online analyst.
Peter Gammons has been one of my favorite baseball people over the years, even though he is a well known Red Sox fan/homer. Say what you want about him, but he is truly a great baseball man and is very knowledgable about the game. I know a lot of Yankees fans don’t like the guy, but he will definitely be missed in my book.
In his last column at ESPN, Gammons had some kind words for Mariano Rivera:
ESPN had me at Yankee Stadium for Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Charlie Moynihan and I were walking onto the field to do interviews moments after Aaron Boone’s home run. “Charlie,” I said to my great friend, “We just got paid to watch the greatest game in the history of the greatest sports venue in the world.”
We had finished our live shots and interviews and were getting ready to go to the Red Sox clubhouse to do the story about Grady Little’s leaving Pedro Martinez in the game, when Charlie noticed a Yankee coming up the steps of the dugout and toward us. It was Mariano Rivera. “I knew you wanted to talk to me, no reason to go get soaked in the clubhouse,” Mariano said, and prepared to be interviewed. In the past 15 years, Rivera is the sport’s MVP and Cy Young, and in my 20 years at ESPN, he might be the most distinctive person.
Kevin Rozell
M. B. Rozell
Ray Rothfeldt
Eduardo Perez
He will soon be on the MLB Network, so you won’t need to miss him too much. I concur with you the man is an oracle of knowledge though I don’t care for him, he is a total Boston hack and Yankees hater, though he is aptly subtle about it.
Yeah, that’s true, but I don’t have the MLB Network on my TV. I only have one cable box in my house and it’s not mine. lol
It’s funny how everyone makes fun of him for being a “Red Sox homer” but at the same time…if we had a guy on ESPN that supported the Yankees like that…we would love the guy.
Zell