Longtime Boston Globe writer and MLB Network correspondent Nick Cafardo unexpectedly collapsed outside of the Red Sox clubhouse on Thursday, hitting his head and going unconscious.
After being tended to by the Red Sox medical staff, Cafardo was then rushed to Gulf Coast Medical Center. However, the doctors there couldn’t keep his heart from completely failing. The beloved writer was just 62 years old before the apparent embolism took his life.
Baseball outlets across the nation paid their respects to Cafardo. They remembered him for being a hard worker who took the mantra “no days off” and completely ran with it.
“Nick wasn’t even supposed to be at the ballpark Thursday,’’ Globe deputy sports editor Scott Thurston said. “But he loved being over there. He must have been getting some material for the Sunday notes.’’
–– excerpt from fellow Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy
Read the rest of Shaughnessy’s tribute to Cafardo here.
His love and dedication to his craft made Cafardo a well-respected writer in a very competitive market. That being, his warm heart is what will be missed by those who had the pleasure of getting to know him through personal experiences or just his work.
Yesterday, I bumped into Nick in the parking lot and we talked for 2 hours about baseball & life. I had a million things to do and I'm sure he did as well- but he was willing to stay- so I was going to keep chatting….
I am so thankful that I had those 2 hours with him.
— Guerin Austin (@guerinaustin) February 22, 2019
But it wasn’t just through tweets and articles that people paid homage to Cafardo, as NESN Sports Today opened their broadcast Thursday with over eight minutes of respects for the beloved writer.
Many members of NESN’s broadcast and production staff had their own words on their experiences with Cafardo over the years, and everything was positive.
“In this business, it’s hard for anybody to be universally liked. Nick [Cafardo] was universally liked. He had done so many nice things to so many people. There aren’t many people like that.
–– Tom Caron (@TomCaron)
Friday afternoon brought Red Sox baseball back, but that didn’t come without even more respects being paid to the deceased 62-year-old.
It is 8:18 am and this is Nick Cafardo’s seat in the press box at Fenway South for today’s opener. No idea who left these but thank you. pic.twitter.com/TN06e6gQra
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) February 22, 2019
It took me a day to really process how I wanted to write this piece. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Cafardo over the years, but he was always a writer I looked forward to reading. In fact, he was one of my inspirations in becoming a writer.
When people bring up how nice of a guy he was, and how so many people who tried getting a foot in the door of a competitive journalism industry reached out to him, it really goes to show how loved this man was in the media on the national scale.
I could sense in his work, be it his articles or his media appearances, just how much he loved the Red Sox and the game of baseball as a whole. The love and care he put into his work is just something you don’t see from writers that much anymore.
When you have a moment, take a look at the comments underneath the final piece written and published in the life of Nick Cafardo. People he had never met, who just loved his work, sending heartfelt replies.
Steve Pearce breaks the analytics mold by flourishing at age 35 https://t.co/AOvnYFdoKq via @BostonGlobe
— Nick Cafardo (@nickcafardo) February 21, 2019
Rest in peace, Mr. Cafardo. We’ll always remember you and cherish the time we got to spend with you and reading your work.
