This is about a week late. Chances are, some of you have already seen the following piece on Twitter or elsewhere online. For the rest of you just seeing this, my apologies. But I figure better late than never.
I’ve taken this week off from my column for Sporting News, partly because I have some other work pressing. Last week however, I released an interview with Boston Red Sox great Dwight Evans, one of the best players not in the Hall of Fame who is no longer on the writers’ ballot.
I’ve enjoyed every interview I’ve done so far, but I will say that Evans, like Bobby Grich or Alan Trammell, was in the inner circle of players I’ve wanted to talk to. It was very cool to get some time with him, and he said a lot of interesting things.
Again, my apologies for the lateness here. Hope you all enjoy the piece and are enjoying this series. That said, I’d welcome more feedback, positive or negative. I want to know what’s working and moreover, what isn’t working, so that I can continue to get better at this.
Thanks for reading.
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Other people I’ve talked to: Steve Garvey | Jeff Idelson | Tommy John | Jim Kaat | Tony La Russa | Dale Murphy | Alan Trammell | Fay Vincent | Billy Wagner
Great article on Evans, thanks for giving him the attention he deserves !
Thanks, Patrick. Was wondering what you’d think of this one.
Growing up a couple blocks from Fenway Park in the mid 70s ,I knew we had a special outfield. Evans came up a year or so prior to the ‘Gold Dust Twins’,Rice and Lynn. Rices injury and absence from the 75 W.S. could have been the difference. Looking back on the careers of each, I thought Rice was a certain H.O. Famer.Lynn was the most talented of the 3,but injuries and not being able to play his home games in Fenway Park derailed his H.O.F. chances. Evans started working with Redsox hitting coach Walt Hriniak (not sure of the date)tapping his right foot as a timing mechanism,and his ability to drive the ball became much more consistent . I believed him to be a notch behind Rice in the hitting department. There career stats are fairly close,with Evans defense far superior. If Bill James says he should be in,well that’s good enough for me. Great article.