Peter Gammons' Diamond Notes

Diamond Hoggers is a huge fan of ESPN’s Analyst/Sportwriter/ Boston Red Sox cock gobbler, Peter Gammons. During the season, on several occasions Peter will be stopping by the site to provide us with some of what he hears from around the league. Today, Peter is going to be covering what he’s been hearing around Major League Baseball During Spring training.

-Former A’s shortstop Walt Weiss called me from Boston to inform me he finally had the Clam Chowder. The problem is I don’t think he really experienced the indulgence to the extent he should of. He stopped in at Yorkie’s near East Ocean City, instead of going to Mulhollick’s or The Times bar and restaurant over on Broad street in the heart of Boston. Shame on you Walter. I wasn’t feeling any sorrow for him when he told me they gave him ritz crackers instead of gourmet shell crackers. The nip in the air is just different at that place. If you’re going to enjoy Boston’s signature nip of the sand and smell of the shell, next time head over to Mulhollick’s…..

-Now that I’ve gotten my Chowder plug out of the way, let’s talk some baseball. I recently sat down with Bronson Arroyo to play the guitar and show him my new Fender Stratocaster and had the chance to ask him what he misses most about the city of Boston. He responded with “The Pussy.” When I asked him off the record what he meant he told me that the women in Cincinnati were really hard to tell apart from the men. Aparently at a game last summer, Arroyo looked up over the dugout to see a woman wearing an Arroyo jersey, but the woman was growing hair on her chin as well as her upper lip. Arroyo says while he enjoys having considerably less pressure on him each night to perform as in the high stakes of Boston, he really misses some of the fine women that used to chase him in the streets like a rockstar, trying to steal his socks and shoes….

-On another note to touch on real quick, I have had numerous people make inferences to my ‘turkey gobbler’. I have heard comments that I have a Hall of Fame loyalty to the Red Sox and a Hall of Fame ‘turkey gobbler’ hanging off my chin. The reason for this is simple. When I was a kid, I had a pet parrotkeet named Carl, (after Yaz himself). Carl was so cute in fact, that I thought until I was a bit older of a boy, 15 to be exact, that I’d like to look like him. I would suck in my top lip, making it appear pointy but appearing at the same time that I had no lip at all. This would serve as my beak. After doing this for years and years, through my entire childhood and into college, my chin eventually took on distant structure. I realized what it had done to me and Carl and I had a huge fight. I released him out into the wild and cussed him greatly…..

-I spoke to Rick Ankiel recently about what he does different now that he’s an outfielder and no longer a pitcher. He told me that he eats Honeycomb cereal while when he was a pitcher he didn’t eat breakfast at all. Look for this new found strategy to become a huge reason for his success.

-Rumor has it that a game before Roger Clemens threw the 21 strikeout game back in 1986, he actually consumed several Samuel Adam’s holiday pack beers. I personally prefer Samuel Adams light, but Clemens’ size advantage has him drinking the darker and enjoying.

-I recently played a game of dodgeball with Bobby Kielty and Dustin Morneau during their offseason workout. Let me say, they did not take it easy on me whatsoever. I was hit once in the face, busting my glasses. Morneau said he’d pay for them but I never heard back from him after several phone calls. Bobby Kielty looked as if he was 5 years younger and more agile this spring, look for him to steal some bases this upcoming season.

-Tony Larussa enjoys reading the St. Louis Sun Times Sentinel and not the St. Louis Tribune before games.

-And now for my “Gammons’ Big Info of the week”: Recently Big Papi David Ortiz has been more of a character and presence in the Red Sox Clubhouse. The reason is because he won $3,000,000 in a night of blackjack in Las Vegas. This is the reason for Ortiz’s larger than life personality…..

Sincerely signing off for the Diamond Hogger info team,

This is Peter Gammons, ESPN.