Peter Gammons wrote an article for ESPN (hat-tip to
Zell's Pinstripe Blog) talking about his 20 years with the network. In it he talks about a few Yankee-related topics:
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.
I know a lot of Yankees fans like to hate on the guy for being a Red Sox fan, but we can clearly see his objectivity in these two paragraphs. The guy really is just covering the game of baseball, and he does it better than most. Like I said the other day, this move is great for the MLB network.
