Say what you will about Peter Gammons, but I love him. There was a time, when Gammons was a regular on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, when I encouraged my children to refer to him as Uncle Peter. (My wife, incidentally, was not a fan of this.) Sure, his Boston Globe columns could be long-winded–perhaps even elitist, if a baseball writer can aspire to elitism–and there were the nagging questions about the accuracy of some of his reporting, but it never really mattered that much to me. I’m not a journalist, after all, I’m just a baseball fan, and Gammons always gave me exactly what I wanted. Heck, I even liked his guitar-nerd habit of dropping in bits about the Moody Blues or Third Eye Blind.
Anyway, like him or not, he’s got an interesting column about the Yankees over at MLB.com. In a nutshell, Jeter’s working hard, Ruben Rivera was a bust, Jesus Montero is the real deal, and Joba (gasp!) looks like the old Joba. Enjoy.
[Photo Credit: Justine Hunt/Boston Globe]
i've heard uncle peter play the guitar. it's god awful. i dug him several years ago, then he became insufferable when the s**t sox got good. i don't read/follow him at all anymore...
I disliked Gammons and his biased reporting for a long time, but I lost all respect I had for him a few years back when he went on national television and told a flat out bald-faced lie about Josh Beckett's blisters. Anyone with a shred of dignity would have refused to say "defective baseball" in front of his family, let alone the ESPN game of the week. I find it impossible to take anything he says seriously any more.
I've read a bunch of his game recaps from the mid-70s and they shine. Great newspaper reporter.
He's always been a shill for the Sox front office, but as a writer there are few better. And he's publicly bashed Schilling, which ALWAYS scores points with me.
and Beyond The Sixth Game, if you can find an old copy of it, is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how an entire franchise can completely self-destruct if you give it enough rope.
I mean this right here is...most people just don't know how to do this:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=2118859
Boring. Many better, before him and after him. His redsoxxing made him. I don't wish him bad pitches, but his shillness outshines his wordsmithing.