Get Well Soon, Pete

[Photo Credit]

A friend of mine sat next to Peter Gammons on a flight from Boston to Seattle in 2002 and told me that he was one of the nicest people he had ever met. Friendly, intelligent, funny...just about everything you think he would be from reading his articles. Gammo suffered a brain aneurysm last night and is currently in an ICU recovering from surgery. He is a great guy and the only guy on ESPN I listen to and trust. He is also a Pearl Jam fan. Next week, on July 4th, he is scheduled to release NEVER SLOW DOWN, NEVER GROW OLD, a collection of cover songs featuring Pete on guitar and vocals with a little help from some pro ballplayers and musicians like George Thorogood and Juliana Hatfield. The proceeds from the CD's sales will benefit Theo and Paul Epstein's Foundation to Be Named Later, a newly formed foundation that will benefit kids in the Greater Boston area. For a taste of Gammo's eloquence, humility and humor read his Hall of Fame Induction Speech.

In March of this year, Pete treated ESPN Insider readers to the Top 20 tracks on his iPod during Spring Training (everything below is written by Gammo, I just changed those songs that I posted .mp3s for):

1. MP3: Tom Petty - "Mary Jane's Last Dance". She "had a good-lookin' momma who was never around ... you never slow down, you never grow old."
2. "Riding in the Backseat," The Gentlemen. Download it. You're (---) right.
3. "(---) Up," Pearl Jam
4. "I'm No Angel," Gregg Allman. "So you find me hard to handle, Well, I'm easier to hold."
5. "Someone Else Is Steppin' In," Buddy Guy
6. MP3: Editors - "Munich"
7. MP3: Ben Harper - "Both Sides of the Gun"
8. "On Your Way Down," Little Feat. "You think the sun rises and sets on you, but the same sun that rises and sets on poor folks too."
9. MP3: Pearl Jam - "World Wide Suicide"
10. "Model Citizen," Warren Zevon
11. "Perfectly Good Guitar," John Hiatt. "There ought to be a law with no bail/Smash a guitar and you go to jail/With no chance for early parole/You don't get out 'til you get some soul."
12. "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley," Robert Palmer, "when up pops the wife."
13. "You Got the Silver," Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks
14. "I Feel So Good," Richard Thompson, "I'm gonna break somebody's heart tonight."
15. MP3: Pete Yorn - "Strange Condition"
16. MP3: The Killers - "Mr Brightside"
17. "Summer," Buffalo Tom
18. "Down the Road Apiece," Rolling Stones
19. "You're My Girl," Rhinoceros
20. "This Is Us," Emmylou Harris

Get well soon, Pete!