Updated: Gammons out at ESPN for MLB; Curry takes Times buyout
ByJust a few media hits for the afternoon: Via a release at their media center, ESPN announced a few minutes ago that Peter Gammons will be departing the network after the Winter Meetings are over. Gammons has not yet announced his next move, but Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president for production, says Peter wants “new challenges and a less demanding schedule.” In local media news, Jack Curry has taken a buyout offer from The New York Times and will be leaving the Grey Lady shortly. The Sports Section of The Times will seem a little less complete without him.
Update 5:58 p.m.: The Associated Press is now reporting that Gammons will be joining the MLB Network with an official announcement coming perhaps as early as tomorrow. This move seemed nearly inevitable when Gammons announced his decision to leave ESPN. Say what you will about Gammons’ biases, but this is a huge move for the one-year-old MLB Network. They get a bona fide giant in the field and steal one of ESPN’s most senior reporters. I wonder how much it’s going to cost them.
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Who will hype the Sox prospects????
The rest of ESPN?
Yeah, I think NESPN will have it covered.
Manny Delcarmen will still close for a NL team.
Maybe we’ve all been looking at this the wrong way. It isn’t a bias towards the Sox at all. They aren’t saying Delcarmen is good, just that the NL sucks.
Or:
Both.
Maybe the tide has turned and now they will go back to Yankees bias.
Good night, sweet prince.
Re: Gammons
I just jizzed in my pants
Sorry to sad Jack go.
The opposite of sorry to see Gammons leave.
Oh my Mo. Whizzo!
Yeah.
Back from a long walk-about.
With typos, apparently.
Anything happen to the Yanks after May? I’m really worried about them playing well with Wang pitching so poorly.
Melky killed a guy with a trident.
I predicted that.
Good to see Whizzo still has it.
Back from a long walk-about.
Did you see Locke?
I love that show.
WELL SHOOT THEN GET READY CAUSE IT’S ABOUT TO COME BACK BABY ZOMG
Feb. 2. That’s still a good amount of time off.
If we don’t talk about it the time will pass faster.
I’m thinking of joining Netflix and watching all 103 episodes again, from the beginning, in preparation.
There is a decent-to-good chance that I’m definitely already doing that for Seasons 4 and 5.
TSJC – We did that before Season 4… Watched an episode before bed every night or so for a few weeks, etc. It was awesome.
Yeah, I’m a geek. Whatever.
Just signed up.
START THE INSANITY, BABY!!!!!
lostrumours.com
Awesome spot.
sorry.
lostrumours.blogspot.com
It’s like RAB, for Losties.
Yeah, that site and a few others, like docarzt.com, are pretty good. I’m actually not looking at that stuff anymore, I want everything this last season to be a surprise to me. I’ll still read Doc Jensen, but that’s it I think.
I love the show and still watch it religiously, but I must say I enjoyed the earlier seasons much more than the last two.
also if you have a netflix streaming blu-ray or 360, PS3 you can save all seasons of LOST in HD quality, its like having the DVD’s without paying 200 bucks for them.
Nady Nation has missed Whizzo and welcomes Whizzo back with open arms.
Thanks Double-N.
Whizzo enjoys a hearty welcome.
I guess Gammons lost the over-my-ESPN-job-will-the-yanks-get-granderson bet.
Hey besides Gammons’ obvious crush on the BoSox, I like and respect that man. He knew his shit amidst the Red Sox twist he always put on it.
I’m sure ESPN is sad to have him go. He’s getting rather long in the tooth so it makes sense but I hope he stays active, I’ll continue to follow him.
He was the godfather of bullshit rumors.
Meh, he’s gotten old, and now he’s just the underboss of bullshit rumors. Heyman is the new capo de tutti capo of bullshit rumors.
This day keeps getting better and better.
While Gammons was biased a lot of time he was a HOF reporter and I hope that this isn’t health related. He did change how teams were covered.
+1
As annoyed as I could get at him from time to time. He was still a heck of an analyst.
Hope all is well for him.
He’s not a “HOF reporter.” He won the Spink Award, but he’s not in the HOF. For some context/perspective, Bill Madden is this year’s recipient of the Spink Award. Bill. Madden.
/rant
Thank you. Beat me to it.
He was honored by the HOF not inducted.
The Gammons hate here is comical.
How you cant give respect to one of the best baseball writers out there is a joke.
oh god..
That man is a Hall of Famer!
Because when you constantly ballwash Sox players and prospects you lose credibility.
Do you mean Casey Kelly is not the most polished pitcher in the history of baseball?
And Lars Anderson wasn’t the greatest hitting prospect ever (in 2008 of course)
I give respect to Gammons, he was one of the best baseball writers out there… in the 1980s.
Gammons has not yet announced his next move
I’m betting he’s working on advancing his music career.
Keep this on the DL… he’s playing guitar in my death metal band: BloodBloodGutsBlood
Am I to believe Brett Gardner plays drums in your band?
brett only listens to speed metal.. get it? ha ha?
I will miss the drooling.
What, no more Diamond Cutter jokes?!!! I’m outta here.
No Diamond Cutter jokes or the insane Melky+IPK trade ideas…what a sad day
I can promise you this:
I will not let the Diamond Cutters jokes die. Diamond Cutters will live on.
It’s a Christmas miracle!
Mo bless you, Tommie.
I give because I love, you bodacious buxom bawdy bibliophile.
I’ve always found Gammons’ Red Sox bias bizarre. While he was always a Red Sox fan, I never thought he was really biased towards them in his reporting until they won it all in 2004 (it could just be I am remembering him wrongly though). It is like he is a frontrunner/bandwagon fan, except that everyone was well aware of the fact he was a Sox fan before their championships.
I’ve just always found that odd.
Just a hunch, but I think things might have changed re: Gammons’ reporting on MLB, and the Sox in particular, when Theo’s regime took over. Gammons is not just a Sox fan, he’s very in-tune and connected with the particular people who are running that organization now. I don’t think he was ever as close with Boston’s front office as he is now, with their current front office, and I think maybe that caused the difference you sensed. Before, he loved the Sox, but he didn’t necessarily think their FO was very smart nor did he have a personal connection with the FO. Now he not only thinks they’re the smartest guys in the room, but he also kind of has a personal stake in their success since he’s so close with Theo, et al.
I mean, come on. (safe – Epstein/DiNardo/Gammons)
I forgot all about that glorius picture. You’re theory seems logical.
That’s….not a photoship, huh?
So We got Granderson, and ESPN got rid of Gammons? BEST DAY EVER!!!!
Peter, we’d like to hear you’re departing words….
“Thanks you, first of all, I’d like to thank the countless fans, the countless media people, and just people in general, who have wished me luck. Throughout the years, I covered many sports and I enjoyed every single one of them, with the RedSox comeback in ’04 always in my memory. I’d personally like to thank Theo, for inviting me over for tea this weekend. One last note, sources are telling me that the Red Sox are VERY close to acquiring Roy Halladay, and one AL East manager told me Granderson was vastly over-rated in the world of sabermetrics. With that note, I bid adieu to you all, GO REDSOX”
Ok seriously, other than his Red Sox liking, he seemed like a good guy, so I wish him the best of luck.
Regardless of biases, both Curry and Gammons had careers that many of us pursuing sports journalism can only dream of.
I wish them well.
Thank God
Gammons has always given Derek Jeter more praise than any other writer I’ve ever read, and there’s a reason Rodriguez chose to confess his steroids use to him and not some other schmuck.
Gammons is one of the most respect men in the industry, and he’s even taken it upon himself to appreciate advanced statistics. He also got a big credit boost in my book for predicting Greinke to win the Cy Young in spring training.
Baseball is a better sport with Peter Gammons covering it, biased BoSox slant or not.
Gammons is so old that he doesn’t do any actual legwork anymore, people just tell him stuff because he’s Gammons.
So he doesn’t cover anything, stuff covers him… mainly his spit.
Well said. I totally agree.
Arod chose him because with Gammons it was a guaranteed puff piece, he asked like 10 questions and none of them were particularly hard hitting. He didn’t probe deeper then why did you take steroids?
I was thrilled when I first read that Gammons was leaving ESPN.
Then I realized that it doesn’t really matter much because ESPN is still way off my radar.
I just hope Gammons doesn’t infest MLB Network.
I am beside myself. Diamond Cutters is dead. Melky+IPK trades are done. WHAT IS NEXT!?!
I guess Eric Wordekemper can still net a solid package of IPK + The Justin Upton + a sack of in-and-out burgers.
Well then, if Jon Kruk committs suicide on air I might consider watching ESPN again now.
Crossin’ the line a wee bit.
What if it was an accidental suicide? Like, an overdose of Subway $5 footlong sandwiches or something? Would that be okay?
Fatcessa just predicted on his show that Gammons will announce next week that he is joining MLB network and MLB.com. Interesting off-the-top-of-the-head guess.
I wouldn’t be surprised. A few folks on Twitter were speculating the same thing. Biases aside, that would be a huge get for the MLB Network.
My initial thought, not that it counts for much, was that maybe he’d take some sort of position in the Sox’ front office. I mean, the guy’s done pretty much everything he can do in the world of journalism… Maybe he wants to finally be a real part of the team for a little while before he retires for good.
Talk about your short-lived theories.
I love that Mike’s whole demeanor changes when a caller will give him info that he didn’t know about first.
Forget the Gammons thing, you are all forgetting your long lost favorite son who will replace Gammons’ All Sox All the time – have the greatest players ever, greatest GM ever…. I introduce to you – Peter Abraham.
Peter Gammons never played baseball (professionally)…never coached or managed anything in baseball. He just woke up one day and was like “I LOVE BASEBALL!!” And now he’s in the Hall of Fame.
True Story…
Peter Gammons is not in the Hall of Fame. Truer story.
“Peter Gammons (born April 9, 1945)[1][2] is an American sportswriter, media personality, and National Baseball Hall of Fame honoree.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Gammons
So he was just “honored” there for something irrelevant and was never actually elected into it?
No wonder I was confused…
He won the Spink Award, he was not inducted into the Hall of Fame.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-709172
Oh well…got it mixed up. The way they always talk and write about it…one could assume he was in the Hall of Fame. My mistake.
Oh totally. It’s just that the way they talk about it is wrong and it’s kind of annoying. Plenty of other journalists have won the Spink Award, but you never hear them introduced as a “Hall of Famer” like Gammons. Ever hear someone say “now here with us is Hall of Famer Tracey Ringolsby?” Or “Hall of Famer Murray Chass?” It’s just been another way for people to slurp Gammons and act like he’s special, but it’s inaccurate.
False story.
Gammons is NOT in the Hall of Fame. That’s not a true statement, unless he buys a ticket and goes to visit and someone calls him on his cellphone and says “Peter, where are you right now, at this very minute?” and he says “Right now, at this very minute, I am IN the Hall of Fame.”
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-709369
well played.
Man, I totally didn’t know that until today, no shit. ESPN shoves that down its audiences’ throats non-stop. HALL OF FAMER PETER GAMMONS.
He was becoming a joke. Stayed far too long.
Anyone else think the Scutaro article from last week was the straw that broke the camel’s back?
So…stuck at work all day, cell phone breaks, haven’t seen a TV. Finally get to a computer to find that we got Granderson AND Gammons left ESPN?
The one day I have to do something at work other than pretend to work! The nerve of those people.
Red Sox on the verge of trading the shell of my journalistic corpse, Jed Lowrie and Jason Varitek for Jason Heyward and Brian McCann, but only if the Braves eat some of McCann’s salary.
For Cubic Zirconium Cutters,
I’m Peter Gammons
Ever since ESPN stole Jon Gruden from the far superior NFL Network , i’ve wanted ESPN to suffer a major defection. This is probably it.
Great one of the reasons i preferred the MLB network was that through the regular season they had no RedSock cronie in there… now they import the biggest of them all
This will ensure that PG will tell u how good Pedroia and Lowrie are and how the RS will win the next 5 WS in a row… and HOF chances of the 25 men in the Sox roster…
the MLB network guys are way more overworked than the ESPN guys… i donno how you move toMLBN if you want lesser work… unless he is not a game reporter and just a weekly 1/2 show contributor as opposed to the MLB tonight type shows..
Gammons, for the last few years, had been traveling with the Sunday Night Baseball crew. For MLBN, he can pretty much just stick with studio appearances.
i think he shud hv just retired.. kind of like Griffey going back to Seattle… sometimes Karl Ravech would wait an eternity for Gammons to reform his thought in the middle of a discourse…
he has a great name, sure wud hv made some serious dough.. i just think he should retire and enjoy the fruits of his red sox insider reports of the last 40 yrs…
the fact that he didnt retire likely means ESPN forced his hand
Yeah, I’m not happy with this latest development.
I’m glad to hear this, I’ve started to watch more of the MLB Network and less of ESPN. Win.
2 down… 2 to go.
I honestly think that ESPN can give a rat’s ass about baseball. Ever since they started televising the NFL, MLB has been on the backburner for them.
As long as there is Extra Innings, ESPN’s MLB telecasts are dead to me.
I couldn’t agree more. ESPN became utterly useless once they bought the rights to MNF. It’s far too football-obsessed. They don’t give nearly as much attention to the NHL as they used to (mostly because the network signed with Versus).
Also, they employ way too many prognosticators and yellers. They don’t analyze anymore, they just make predictions. Garbage network, as far as I’m concerned… which is really sad.
If football didn’t kill baseball in the ratings, then I would agree with you. Before you blame ESPN for talking about football more than baseball, blame MLB.
Garbage for baseball. Pretty decent for the rest though I don’t follow as religiously as baseball.
Anyways I thought Gammons was one of the better ESPN people since he wasn’t batshit insane 100 percent of the time. I don’t mind him compared to people like Kruk or Skip Bayless. I wish him well in the MLB Network which is by far much better than any kind of baseball analyzing ESPN can do.
How has no one posted this in this large of a Peter Gammons thread?
That was awesome, Sam. There should be one for Kruk.
Peter Gammons can take his pro-Red Sox views to MLB but, in all fairness, Gammons is a good reporter. I am going to miss Jack Curry – a class act all the way.
If he is coming to the mlb network then they should get rid of Sean Casey, probably the only commentator in baseball more bias than gammons.
Probably nobody will see this but holy shit, Gammons is only 64! I thought he was at least 80, and that was my conservative guess
mlb network is great. i’d like to see more original programming that they boast so much rather than replays of ‘classic’ games but i love what they’re doing after just a year of being around.
[...] early December, long-time New York Times baseball writer Jack Curry took a buyout offer and departed from the Gray Lady. Today, we learn that Curry will join the YES Network as a Yankees [...]