The list of things worth yearning for from 2020, baseball-related or otherwise, has to be pretty short. But here’s one that rattles around in the brain of an incurably nostalgic sports media columnist this time of year:
I deeply miss Jerry Remy and Dennis Eckersley on NESN’s Red Sox broadcasts.
I know, I’m hardly alone here. Individually, both were superb analysts — two of the best I’ve ever heard, regionally, nationally, anywhere — whose rich insights on the game were enhanced when they began to reveal their humanity.
Once Remy realized that Eckersley was a true friend and not someone trying to take his job, their bond strengthened, and they began working together more often (including for approximately 30 games in a three-man booth with play-by-play voice Dave O’Brien in 2019), developing the kind of rapport that is scarce in sports broadcasting.