Interviewing Peter Gammons
RC:
Tell us why baseball is important to fathers and sons in your experience?
PG:
Well because there is so much history. And it’s traditional. It’s also a game that, because it doesn’t have a clock, it’s a conversational game. I mean it’s hard to have a lot of conversations during a hockey game, a basketball game or a football game because you think every play is really important. Now, in baseball, they are important but there’s time in between. And it’s every day...so you’re living out a life and each season is a life in itself.
RC:
Did you go to your first game with your dad as a little guy?
PG:
Ayuh.
RC:
And what was that like?
PG:
It was tremendous. I remember the day, it was in 1952. It was June 28, 1952 I came into Fenway Park because I lived about 40 miles outside of Boston. And I was struck by how green it was. Because then we only had black and white televisions so I had no idea what the color was. I walked up that ramp right there the first time I came into Fenway and I remember everything about that day. And I think most people do remember the first time they went to a ballpark.
RC:
Did they win that day?
PG:
No, they lost 5-1.
RC:
Who’d they play?
PG:
They played the Washington Senators.
RC:
Who pitched?
PG:
Dick Berdowski pitched for Washington and beat Boston and I do remember I got to see Dizzy Trout who was 44 years old, pitch in that game. And then of course his son played. And then the second game I came to was against Detroit. The great thing about that was, a guy who was a great pitcher, Virgil “Fire” Trucks pitched for the Tigers in that game. And that was very important to me because of my love of music because his nephew and great nephew are the drummer and guitarist for the Allman Brothers.
RC:
What is it like for you now to share the game with others?
PG:
It’s wonderful. Their love of it, too -- in those days we used to go out to the bleachers and just have a lot of fun. Again...A baseball game isn’t an event, the way a football game is. A baseball game is just another day of an experience. And I think that’s what makes it so great. And the players...I’m fortunate to have been really close to the game and know how much players care and how hard they play. I very believe very strongly that the players today are better than the players when I was going to games in the 60’s. And I’ll tell you this, they care every bit as much now as they ever did.
RC:
Regardless of the money.
PG:
It’s all relative. To Ted Williams it was a big deal to make $125,000 when Joe DiMaggio made $120,000. When Rickey Henderson made three million and someone got three-point-one and he wanted three-point-five...it’s all relative. It’s not something that most of us can relate to...unless you’re making 17 million dollars. It’s not the money, it’s the pride of being better than somebody else.
RC:
What is the greatest ballpark right now?
PG:
Pac Bell, San Francisco. Second, Pittsburgh. The difference is, Pac Bell’s in San Francisco and Pittsburgh’s Pittsburgh.
RC:
What is the greatest play you’ve ever seen -- at the game when you were there?
PG:
I would say it would be the Devon White catch in the World Series in 1992. I think it was greater than Mays’ catch. The bases were loaded, line drive directly over his head with the wall, because he was going at it full speed, like Mays, but Mays at least had an angle. It was directly over (White’s) head. He caught it at full speed, bases loaded two outs, one-run game and he hit the wall. And to me, when you’re faced with a wall it makes it even greater. As much as I love Willie Mays, he’s my favorite player of all time, that was the greatest play.
No comments:
Post a Comment