Teams observe a moment of silence in honor of Nick Cafardo, longtime Boston Globe baseball writer who passed away on Thursday, prior to a Grapefruit League spring training game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox at JetBlue Park at Fenway South on February 23, 2019 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The beauty of working in sports is it rarely feels like work. Sure, the hours are long, pay's usually low, and the recognition these days usually comes with more verbal or written attacks than appreciation, but I'd challenge you to find a person more well-liked or who loved his job more than long-time Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Cafardo.
We lost a titan of the industry yesterday when Nick collapsed outside the Red Sox spring training clubhouse in Fort Myers with a reported embolism.
It's tragic. Nick was just 62. So much life ahead of him, but he died doing what he loved. Members of the Globe staff said he wasn't even scheduled to be at the ballpark yesterday.
I didn't know Nick well but, in my years working at Boston dot com, he couldn't have been nicer, more supportive, or more approachable, especially to a first-time couch columnist with many questions and few answers. He was always a text or call away.
But, friend, colleague, or stranger, Nick's tireless work ethic, calm under pressure, and reliability for real journalism in an era defined by page views and paper sales was always an inspiration. This generation's short attention spans still didn't balk at his lengthy weekly baseball notes column. They were a must-read for years.
We'll miss reading you, Nick. But we'll miss you more.
WBZ NewsRadio's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports