Pedro Gomez, a 2003 ESPN reporter and one of the country’s leading baseball journalists, died unexpectedly on Sunday. He was 58 years old.
Gomez, based in Phoenix, covered baseball for SportsCenter, Tonight Baseball and other ESPN studio shows, live events and radio. Throughout his 35-year career, he has covered over 25 World Series and over 20 All-Star games.
“We are shocked and saddened to learn that our friend and colleague Pedro Gomez has died,” said Jimmy Pitaro, president of ESPN and Sports Content. “Pedro was an elite journalist at the highest level and his professional achievements are universally recognized. More importantly, Pedro was a good friend, dear to all of us. Our hearts are with Pedro’s family and all those who I love in this extraordinarily difficult time. “
Gomez is survived by his wife, Sandra; sons, Rio and Dante; and daughter, Sierra.
“Pedro was much more than a media personality,” his family said in a statement. “He was a father, a loving husband, a loyal friend, a coach and a mentor. He was everything and the greatest believer of his children.”
Gomez’s son, Rio, is a player in the Boston Red Sox.
The son of Cuban parents who went to Miami just before birth, Gomez was part of covering the network’s landmark in 2016, when the Tampa Bay Rays faced the Cuban national team in Havana. He returned the ashes of his father and brother to the family home on that trip. He also covered a football game for the US men’s national team in Havana in 2008 for ESPN and an exhibition game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban national team in 1999.
In addition, he was a vital part of Barry Bonds ‘network coverage from 2005 to 2007, including covering Bonds’ pursuit to break Henry Aaron’s home record in 2007.
Gomez even played a game-by-game game for an ESPN baseball game in 2014. He said his favorite event to cover was Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship, when Chicago fan Steve Bartman reached out and tried to catch a wrong ball over Cubs outfielder Moises Alou in a playoff game against the Miami Marlins, who went on to score eight rounds in the half and force a Game 7 in the series.
Prior to joining ESPN, Gomez wrote for Miami News, San Diego Union, San Jose Mercury News, the Miami Herald and the Sacramento Bee – which specializes in baseball coverage – before becoming a national baseball columnist and writer in Arizona Republic in 1997 .
Among the teams he covered as a drunk writer were Rickey Henderson’s Oakland Athletics, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, among others. Gomez once told reporter Jeff Pearlman that it was like “I was traveling with The [Rolling] Stones. “
He was an award-winning journalist, including an award from the Arizona Associated Press Managing Editors’ Association for “Discovering the Home I Never Knew,” about his 1999 trip to Cuba.
Gomez was originally from Miami and attended Miami-Dade Community College, where he found his passion for journalism at the University of Miami.