Baseball and journalism lost a giant Thursday when longtime Boston Globe baseball reporter Nick Cafardo passed away from an apparent embolism at the age of 62.
On Friday, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora used his entire pregame media availability to honor the legendary scribe with a seven-minute statement. Cora did not take any questions.
Below is the full transcription of Cora’s statement on Cafardo and you can watch the touching tribute in the video above.
“I just want to echo the sentiment of the organization, the players, everybody in our family and the baseball world, Cora said. “You know, we work in a profession that it seems like most of the time, you don’t have your loved ones around. And, you know, you spend so much time with other people and these people, you start caring about. Most of you guys start loving people, you know? You guys have spent so much time with Nick and we spend so much time and the players and all that.
“It puts everything in perspective. I was sitting at home yesterday just thinking about what just happened, you know? It’s one of those that, as you guys know, you know my story and all that. I started looking at life a lot different the last five or six years. There was an article that Nick wrote about my dad around Father’s Day. I pulled it out yesterday. He did a good job, like he always did. It’s life, man. I know how we feel. I know we’re gonna miss him.
“I know, he was a great man and you start reading social media and what people wrote about Nick, how people feel about him. Not only the people from Boston but from all over the states and people from the industry. It was amazing, you know, the respect, the love that people have for him.
“You start thinking about life and it’s like, you know what, that’s the way it should be I guess. You make an impact in life and obviously, Nick impacted all of us. All of us. Very respected. Class. In my case, very fair. He was great. He was great. To read everything that people on social media were putting, and the love and — it’s amazing. He was a great man. He’ll be missed.
“His family — I feel so bad because that’s where you go. I was in my house, by myself and the kids are at home. You never know. You never know. And you start missing them. For his wife, his daughter. Ben, I had the opportunity to work with Ben at ESPN. What he brings, you know, the energy and the passion that he brings to the job, I was like, wow, this is unreal.
“I just addressed the players. It’s funny because he was actually the guy who got on me with the off days. I didn’t know why. Whenever I — I remember Mookie Betts’ off day the sixth day and he’s like, ‘why?’ And then Hanley (Ramirez) in Oakland and he’s like, ‘why?’ And then yesterday, I realized it was an off day for him and he showed up. I was like, that’s why he got on me, you know? He never took an off day. He didn’t understand that part. He did, but he didn’t. And you start appreciating that.
“I’ve gotta tell you guys, something about this and something about losing a loved one, I hated life for a while. I was so upset at life. Something changed six, seven years ago. Instead of looking at my loss, you know, like ‘how could this happen to me?’ it was the other way around. I had (my dad) for 12 years, 13 years. I started thinking of all the cool things my dad did for me, and for Joey, my two sisters and my mom. I started thinking about Nick, and that’s my message to you guys. This is not the manager, this is Alex Cora the — it’s me. It’s just me. Let’s actually celebrate his life, you know? Like I told the guys, just go out there and have a great day. We hate off days anyways. But, let’s have a blast on the field. He loved the game. I think he was the only guy that in Game 3 (of the World Series), he loved that game. I think Pete (Abraham) was the guy who was like, he turned around and said, ‘this is awesome.’ I’m like, think about it.
“That’s what I’ve got for you guys, man. That’s why I don’t get caught up on the whole game. It’s just a game, bro. When you leave, that’s real. Life is real, you know? Everything you have to do as a parent, as a husband, as a son, you know, that’s real. This is just a game, man. We get caught up on the whole wins and losses and rivalries and whatever. Life is real, man. He’s gonna be missed, obviously. It’s not gonna be the same, we know that. I was thinking about it on the way here and I was thinking about you guys (the media), too. From our end, we’re here for you guys. I know there’s a lot of people in the organization that, you know, our medical staff did an outstanding job yesterday. They were amazing. But they’re in shock right now.
“We’re gonna miss him, but like I said, let’s celebrate his life. You guys keep doing the job you’re doing. You guys work in probably the market that they ask a lot from you guys and you guys do an outstanding job doing it. Nick did it the same way and like I said to the guys, ‘hey, let’s go get ‘em.’ Keep going. We’re here for you guys. I know sometimes we don’t agree on everything but like I said, you know, it’s a three-hour game or four-hour game. After that, we’re real human beings.
“From my end, my condolences. He’s going to be missed, but let’s keep going. Thank you.”
