Gammons

My arms weren't long enough to hold the entire sports section up when I first started reading newspapers, so I used to stretch it out on the floor of the my Everett, Mass. house. I didn't look at bylines much then, but I knew who Peter Gammons was. I loved the Sunday paper because it meant his page-long notes column. Back then it was ofen the only place to get out of town notes and trade rumors.

It revolutionized sports writing. Thousands of writers do notes columns now on everything from baseball to college lacrosse. Gammons is as much a TV personality now as he is a writer, but his notes columns are still fresh and enjoyable.

He enters the writer broadcaster wing of the Hall of Fame this weekend. Richard Justice has a nice piece on Gammons and what he's meant to baseball and journalism.