Nicholas Dominic Cafardo (May 8, 1956 – February 21, 2019) was an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

and sports author. A longtime

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

and

beat reporter Beat reporting, also known as specialized reporting, is a genre of journalism focused on a particular issue, sector, organization, or institution over time. Description Beat reporters build up a base of knowledge on and gain familiarity with t ...

for ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', he primarily covered the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

. In December 2019, Cafardo was named the J. G. Taylor Spink Award recipient for .

Early life

Cafardo was born in

Weymouth, Massachusetts Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is one of 13 municipalities in the state to have city forms of government while retaining "town of" in their official names. It is named after Weymouth, Dorset, a coastal town ...

; his parents were immigrants from Italy. He grew up in

Hanson, Massachusetts Hanson is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Part of Greater Boston, Hanson is located 20 miles (32 km) south of Boston and is one of the inland towns of the South Shore. The population was 10,639 at the 2020 census ...

, and graduated from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. Cafardo attended

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

before graduating from

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...

. He was inducted into the Whitman-Hanson hall of fame in 1993.

Career

Cafardo got his start covering local news for '' The Enterprise'' of

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 105,643 at the 2020 United States census. Along with Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, ...

, and sports for ''

The Patriot Ledger ''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday. History The paper was founded on , as the weekly ''Quincy Patriot'' by John Adams Green and Edmund Butl ...

'' of

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

, before moving to ''

'' in 1989. He was hired at the ''Globe'' at the suggestion of Will McDonough. Cafardo covered the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

for the ''Globe'' when he wasn't covering the Red Sox. His "Sunday Baseball Notes" column in the ''Globe'' was nationally read. Cafardo was the author of several books on sports. He wrote ''The Impossible Team: The Worst to First Patriots’ Super Bowl Season'' (2002), ''Boston Red Sox: Yesterday and Today'' (2007), and ''100 Things Red Sox Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die'' (2008). With

Tom Glavine Thomas Michael Glavine (born March 25, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, for the Atlanta Braves (1987–2002, 2008) and New York Mets (2003–2007). With 164 victories durin ...

, he wrote ''None But the Braves: A Pitcher, a Team, a Champion'' (1996) and ''Inside Pitch: Playing and Broadcasting the Game I Love'' (2016), while with

Jerry Remy Gerald Peter Remy (November 8, 1952 – October 30, 2021) was an American professional baseball player and sports broadcaster. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for ten seasons—three with the California Angels (1975� ...

, he wrote ''If These Walls Could Talk'' (2019). In 2001, Cafardo joined

New England Sports Network New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of the Boston ...

(NESN) as an analyst for the Red Sox, and contributed to NESN reports covering the team. Cafardo was co-recipient of the Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year award in 2014, shared with colleague Kevin Dupont of the ''Globe''. In January 2017, Cafardo received the Dave O'Hara Award from the Boston chapter of the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known fo ...

(BBWAA), recognizing his long and meritorious service to BBWAA Boston. On December 10, 2019, Cafardo was posthumously named the recipient of the 2020 J. G. Taylor Spink Award, given by the

, for "meritorious contributions to baseball writing."

Personal life

Cafardo and his wife, Leeanne, were married in 1979 and lived in

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklor ...

. The couple had two children. His son, Ben, has worked as a senior communications director for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Cafardo died on February 21, 2019. He apparently suffered an

embolism An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot (thrombus), a fat globule (fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas (air embolism, gas embolism), amniotic ...

JetBlue Park JetBlue Park at Fenway South is a baseball park in Fort Myers, Florida. Opened in March 2012, it is primarily the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox, replacing earlier separated facilities at City of Palms Park and Boston's former (1993 ...

, and died at

Gulf Coast Medical Center Gulf Coast Medical Center (GCMC) is a 699-bed hospital located in Fort Myers, Florida. History Gulf Coast Medical Center was created through the merging of Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Hospital in March 2009. Both wer ...

; both are in

Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 86,395; it was estimated to have grown to 95,949 in 2022, making it the List o ...

. In August 2019, the Red Sox honored Cafardo in a pregame ceremony at

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

, which included his two grandchildren throwing out

ceremonial first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

es.

References

External links

Baseball Hall of Fame

The Boston Globe Journalist Series: Nick Cafardo
via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Remembering Nick Cafardo
with

Peter Gammons Peter Gammons (born April 9, 1945) is an American media personality and recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing, given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Early life and education Gammons was bo ...

via

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafardo, Nick 1956 births 2019 deaths American writers of Italian descent People from Plymouth, Massachusetts Journalists from Massachusetts People from Hanson, Massachusetts The Boston Globe people Sportswriters from Massachusetts Deaths from embolism 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American male journalists BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients Whitman-Hanson Regional High School alumni People from Weymouth, Massachusetts Northeastern University alumni Suffolk University alumni

Early life

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links