That's right, Peter Abraham, author of LoHud's Yankee blog, is leaving that paper to cover the Red Sox for the Globe. A huge blow to Yankee fans and a boon to the Sox. We wish him the best.
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That's right, Peter Abraham, author of LoHud's Yankee blog, is leaving that paper to cover the Red Sox for the Globe. A huge blow to Yankee fans and a boon to the Sox. We wish him the best.
20 replies on “Blogosphere Shocker: PeteAbe to the Globe”
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of LoHud commenters suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something hilarious has happened.
This just leaves ample room for a much less-snarky beat reporter. And he won’t have to hide his true allegiances.
Andrew are you saying that he has been a Red Sox fan all along?
He comes from Boston, his family lives in Boston…what, did you think he rooted for the Cardinals? Of course he’s a Red Sox fan. But he wasn’t anti-Yankees.
ag, that was hilarious. Andrew, you’re just acting silly.
gonna be interesting to see the tables turn on those here who criticized him over the years and those here who defended him (like myself). Im gonna miss reading him on a regular basis, you SFs out there dont really know how good he actually is…
Actually, he’s the only Yankees beat writer that I regularly read (as a SF). I think he’s normally entertaining, just really hard to take as the Yankees pulled ahead – but I admit that’s just because I hate reading about the Yankees doing well.
Can Suzyn Waldman’s jump to the Red Sox broadcast booth be far behind?
Most of the LoHud comments are really nice and appreciative, but there are predictably some classics. Two of the best I saw in my quick scanning: “Damn Pete, you might as well have just made out with my wife and then kicked me in the groins as you shot my dog.”
“Wow! This is like when I went out with this chick for a while, only to later find out that she liked the Red Sox.”
I like the combo of those two. And also that the first guy apparently has multiple groins.
The LoHud comment section really was a treasure trove of comedy. But these fans will likely just continue posting on the new LoHud blog.
Maybe Pete can pull an anti-Damon and grow a beard when he moves to Boston.
Hmm, I wonder how all those drunk sox fans (his words) will treat him? He’s terrible and barely understands baseball. Some people have hemroids. We have pete abraham now.
As one of Pete’s probably harsher critics on YFSF, I have mixed feelings about this.
On the one hand, Pete is a terrific Journalist 2.0. His blog is filled with terrific little tidbits and news that other beat writers miss. When he’s reporting the news, he’s one of the best. In that sense, the Globe is likely improving their Sox coverage.
On the other hand, his commentary is not much better than Tony Massarotti’s. I don’t know how much was simply playing to his audience, but the line about drunk Red Sox fans, which he (barely) defended here as a joke, and his harangues against Alex Rodriguez are two examples that spring immediately to mind of the fact that when Pete strays beyond the usual bounds of a newsman — and blogs virtually demand that, don’t they? — he’s much nastier, less gracious and much less informative. In that sense, he’s more of the same at the Globe, where virtually all their baseball columns are essentially unreadable.
One concern I have is what this means for the current team of Amalie Benjamin/Adam Kilgore. They have their faults — Kilgore needs a good editor to fix his numerous typos, and Benjamin’s writing often lacks the polish we find from writers like Sean McAdam or Tyler Kepner — but both were young, energetic and, despite my recent disagreement with Benjamin’s last Drew story, receptive and even supportive to the second wave of statistics (such as ERA+, UZR, OPS+, etc.) I don’t believe Pete is as receptive or willing to use those stats on his blog, though I could be wrong.
In all, the Globe is getting a better writer, and that’s a good thing. But it’ll sure be weird to read that byline the first time over a Red Sox story.
Here’s what I sent to Abraham last night:
As a regular reader and occasional critic, I just want to say I’m very happy for you and your family. I know well that that aligning of the professional and personal planets is seldom possible. Thank you for a great ride for the past few seasons. You excel at your job and we were lucky to have you. You’ve set the standard for sports blogging in the toughest sports market in the world. That’s a testament to your commitment and courage. It’s a template for the type of new media relationship with readers that newspapers can use to find their footing again. If you have the time in the off-season, I know I’d love to read and/or hear the stories about the lessons you’ve learned in being a ringleader. If you choose to share that meta-perspective, hopefully the industry is listening carefully.
The plain fact is Abraham just went over 1 million comments. When you consider that a small fraction of pageviews convert into active participation, he’s obviously doing something very, very right especially with where the industry needs to head. SFs are getting a guy who is extremely committed to and understands his job in a way that few sports writers did before him. The plain fact is I had never heard of LoHud until PeteobAbe came along. He literally put them on the map and the obviously industry took notice.
There are many times I’ve disagreed with his analysis. But that’s minor because that’s not his job. Paul is exactly right that he’s doing what bloggers do (including all of the authors here) but with the inside access that is rare.
I’m just looking forward to a Boston writer voting for Jeter as MVP! But I bet he’ll chicken out and write in Mauer.
“…But I bet he’ll chicken out and write in Mauer….”
i’m guessing that this is humor rob, but if not, i’d hardly call it chickening out…mauer is having a way better year than jeter, so unless they invoke the “you have to be on a winner rule”, i don’t see jeter doing better than 2nd…right now the twins are 4 behind detroit, and only 2 games over .500…
okay pete- no more references to the fenway drunk tank please…
I agree with DC, the Twins are still in contention and wouldn’t even be close without Mauer.
It’ll probably be refreshing for the Sox Nation to get a pro-blogger who isn’t a homer.
“mauer is having a way better year than jeter”
Really? Compare their numbers since August.
Allow me to retract that comment, I went and looked at the numbers for the whole season again. No comparison.