Peter Gammons Appreciation thread

[RyDogg66]

 

A thread to a great sports journalist. Lets keep this thread updated with the latest from Peter Gammons.

[fastman316]

I love the man because he looks exactly like Andrew Jackson on the $20 Bill. Take a look at the 20 in your pocket. They could be twins.

[JimH5]

I love Gammons.

 

He's a "pay attention" guy, as when SportsCenter, or Baseball Tonight is on and Gammons does a report, I stop what I'm doing and pay attention to him. Then when he's done, the rest of it goes back to being background noise.

[brewtank34]

Growing up, I hated Gammons....He was always on tv and he looked weird to me. Throughout the years, the passion for the game grew, so did my respect for Gammons. He truely is an icon. I'm happy to see him back on the fields of play.

[pitchleague]

what is up with that video? That was 40 seconds I'll never get back.

 

As for Mr. Gammons, he is very respectful and I enjoy hearing him on TV. I remember when he was pretty much the only article on baseball in the paper that I would read every time.

 

It helps that when he talks, he's usually right or close-to-being right about whatever rumor, story, trade, etc. that he is talking about.

[dadofandrew]

He also gives you a lot of inside info, what scouts think, and so on.

[bullox]

Is this like bizarro Brewerfan or something? I seem to remember some people here trashing him in the past for making up trades just for the sake of it, like Sheets to the Red Sox, etc.

[Big Reed]

I like when he sings and plays his guitar with his rock group.

[soundsradio]

If you read Buster Olney's daily column you realize that it is really just a technologically updated Gammons notes columns. By the way, Olney began his career covering the Brewers AAA club, the Nashville Sounds! Of course they were a Yankees AA club back then I think.

[hauser42]

They do not call him the Dali Lama for nothing. The man loves the game with a passion and has a lot of contacts that he can use to get out the information that baseball fans want.

 

I love Pete as much as anyone. I have to say whenever he comes out in spring training that with a MVP or Cy Young winners I keep those guys away from my fantasy teams. It is almost as bad as Madden cover jinx.

[danzig6767]

I'm a big fan of Gammons also. He not only strikes me as very knowledgeable about the game, he's a likable person. The only thing i've always wondered about is why nobody tells him about the pieces of spittle that often are sitting on his mouth when he talks for awhile. Who knows though, maybe i only notice this.

[RyDogg66]

what is up with that video? That was 40 seconds I'll never get back.

That video was the reason for the thread. I thought it was pure genius. Gammons is awesome though.

 

[Invader3K]

Is this like bizarro Brewerfan or something? I seem to remember some people here trashing him in the past for making up trades just for the sake of it, like Sheets to the Red Sox, etc.

Well, he's definitely a Boston homer...which wouldn't be so annoying if that whole network wasn't about Boston/New York during baseball season.

 

[homer]

He has been bashed quite a bit around here for "making up" trade rumors. But I think he just reports what he hears. There are probably 50 proposed trade rumors for every 1 that actually goes down. Sure GMs probably use him knowing he'll spill beans but he's not the only guy in the media used that way. I like him - always have.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Bullox is right. Is this BF.net, or have I stumbled onto the YES Network forum or the Sons of Sam Horn?

 

We're talking about the same guy who has ignored natural journalistic instincts and doesn't question the accomplishments of Bonds, Clemens and all the other drug cheats, shamelessly panders to the Yankees, and and when the Mitchell Report came out, he staunchly defended Clemens and Pettitte, calling Kirk Radomsky and Brian McNamee "sewer rats."

 

Any reason why Gammons practically foams at the mouth, in his defense of Clemens? Maybe because his name is clearly shown on the cover of Clemens' book "Rocket Man?" And when the sequel becomes inevitable, ya think Good Ol' Innocent Roger will want a sycophant like Gammons around to write his 2nd autobiography?

 

The day Pettitte's name was revealed, Peter was on ESPN, practically spitting in fury at how that could never have happened. But when Pettitte eventually admitted he took PED's? Care to change your story, Peter?

 

McNamee is a former undercover cop in New York City, and has a master's degree in sports medicine, who contends he obviously knows the difference between HGH, steroids, B-12 and lydocaine, so he'd know what he injected into Clemens. He may not be a saint, but he has credibility on this issue. If Clemens and Pettitte's former trainer was lying, he'd foreit his immunity and head to jail, so he's compelled to tell the truth about what went on...and Andy Pettitte even corroborated his story, admitting he took illegal enhancers multiple times. Tell the truth or go to jail? Which one would anyone choose?

 

But no, The Great Peter Gammons labels him a "sewer rat" for telling the truth about a despicable player whom he profited from, in that "ghost-written" book deal. By siding unconditionally with the players on this issue, the reputation, credibility and journalistic instincts of Gammons are all called into question.

 

(edit for punctuation and spelling, not content)

[Boy Jeenius]

Long before the internet was even a dream, The Sporting News was the baseball source for all information. I started reading it in 1968. When I got the newest weekly delivery, I went straight to the columns written by the late Dick Young of the NY Post and Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal. Fabulous sports writers. When Gammons came on board, it was instantly clear that he was much better than either of those guys. No one is more plugged into the game, has a better feel for the game or has better inside sources. Yes, we had to read about the Red Sox every week, even though he wrote a national column, but he was so dang good it just did not matter.

 

All that matters to Gammnons is what happens on the field. The actual game itself is treated with reverence. To writers of that earlier time, all the soap opera, contract negotiations junk only serves to draw attenton away from the game. While I don't always agree with Gammons, I truly enjoy this approach.

[RU Rah Rah]

But no, The Great Peter Gammons labels him a "sewer rat" for telling the truth about a despicable player whom he profited from, in that "ghost-written" book deal. By siding unconditionally with the players on this issue, the reputation, credibility and journalistic instincts of Gammons are all called into question.

Agreed. I generally like Gammons, and I'm really glad that he has survived his brush with death, but his "coverage" of the steroid flap has been borderline disgraceful.

 

[iluvlamp]

I agree with Geno and RU Rah Rah. He puts his contacts above journalism is my opinion. Which is not a new thing over at the BooYah network.