Peter Gammons leaves ESPN and picks up two outlets. In addition to working for NESN which will be his home base, Peter also will work for MLB Network. The story leaked just a few short hours after we learned that Peter was leaving ESPN, his place of employment for 20 years. He now joins MLB Network which has amassed a really good stable of baseball reporters including Tom Verducci, Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal. That’s a Murderer’s Row of insiders that ESPN will be hard pressed to match. While ESPN has Buster Olney, Peter Pascarelli, Tim Kurkjian and Jayson Stark among others, MLB Network has really stepped up.
In addition, Peter will write for MLB.com. We have the official announcement from MLB Network.
Hall of Fame Baseball Writer Peter Gammons Joins MLB Network and MLB.com as On-Air and Online Analyst
Gammons to Serve as an Analyst on MLB Network Studio and Feature Programming
Gammons to be a Signature and Regularly Featured Writer in
MLB.com’s New Sports Columnist Initiative
Secaucus, NJ and New York, NY, December 8, 2009 – MLB Network and MLB Advanced Media today announced that Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons has joined MLB Network and MLB.com as an on-air and online analyst. As part of a multi-year deal, Gammons will offer analysis and commentary on MLB Network for breaking news and special events like the Trade Deadline, First-Year Player Draft, Winter Meetings and Postseason. Gammons will also serve as a signature and regularly featured writer for MLB.com’s new columnist initiative, writing commentary on breaking news and posting several articles online each week.
During the 2009-2010 offseason, Gammons will appear on Hot Stove, MLB Network’s nightly offseason studio show featuring updates and analysis of the moves all 30 clubs are making and planning in preparation for the upcoming season. He will also contribute to MLB Network’s Spring Training program 30 Clubs in 30 Days and do studio work on short documentary-style pieces and other select programming. Gammons will also be a regular analyst on MLB Tonight, MLB Network’s signature nightly studio show.
Also today, NESN announced that Gammons has entered into a multi-year agreement to join the network in January 2010 to serve as a studio analyst and reporter.
“It’s hard to imagine a reporter who is more deeply associated with a sport than Peter is with Major League Baseball,” said Tony Petitti, President and Chief Executive Officer of MLB Network. “Having Peter associated with MLB Network is an incredible opportunity and another great step for MLB Network as we head into our second year on January 1.”
“Peter is one of the best known baseball observers and his illustrious 40-year career has included coverage of some of the most important moments in baseball history,” said Dinn Mann, executive vice president and editor-in-chief of MLB.com. “We are thrilled he will be the anchor of our soon-to-be-launched daily columnist website that will include this country’s best baseball writers.”
“After 40 years covering baseball, the opportunity to move on to MLB Network is a great and daunting opportunity,” said Gammons. “My journalistic life has revolved around baseball, and to be involved with people whose network is devoted to baseball, and baseball only, is something I look forward to with excitement. We all wish pitchers and catchers reported tomorrow. One of the greatest things about baseball is that it is held to a higher standard than any other sport, which holds those of us who care about it to a higher standard. I hope I can contribute to that standard.”
“For generations, baseball has been the writers’ sport, from John Updike to Roger Angell to Tom Boswell,” said Gammons. “To be affo
rded the opportunity by MLB.com to write about breaking news, inside information, issues, players, people, history and the perspective of the game’s place in society from Jackie Robinson to our current generation of socially-conscious players like Torii Hunter, Carlos Pena, and C.C. Sabathia is a forum that makes this next chapter of my journalistic life exciting and rewarding.”Gammons was honored as the recipient of the 2005 J.G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing during the 2005 Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. Gammons was voted the National Sportswriter of the Year for 1989, 1990 and 1993 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and was awarded an honorary Poynter Fellow from Yale University.
Gammons most recently served as a baseball analyst for ESPN from 1988 through 2009 as well as a writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. He began his career as a reporter for the Boston Globe in 1969 and wrote a weekly Sunday baseball column for many years. He has also worked for Sports Illustrated covering the National Hockey League, college basketball and Major League Baseball (1976-78, 1986-90). He has also served as a contributor to Baseball America. In 1984, Gammons wrote the critically acclaimed book Beyond the Sixth Game, a look at free agency.
Gammons joins MLB Network’s roster of on-air talent, including studio hosts Bob Costas, Matt Vasgersian, Victor Rojas, Greg Amsinger and Matt Yallof, studio analysts Sean Casey, John Hart, Barry Larkin, Al Leiter, Joe Magrane, Dan Plesac, Harold Reynolds, Billy Ripken and Mitch Williams, reporters Trenni Kusnierek and Hazel Mae, and baseball insiders Jon Heyman, Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal.
Good stuff. Been quite the busy day for us who cover the sports media.
