When ESPN’s Pedro Gomez died of sudden cardiac arrest on Super Sunday, it sent shock waves through the sports world. His close friend, author and journalist Steve Kettmann, was particularly crushed--and he channeled his grief into an ambitious and emotional project. Five months later, Kettmann joins us to discuss ‘Remember Who You Are,’ a book featuring 62 essays about Gomez’s rich and remarkable 58 years on the planet. If you knew Pedro, this book (and episode) will resonate with you deeply; if you didn’t, you’ll get a strong sense of why the esteemed baseball journalist was revered by so many.
Kettman retraces the emotional whirlwind that began in February, when he learned of his close friend’s sudden passing, and continued as he spearheaded and edited the book that would hit the shelves in July. We hear about Pedro’s cynical conscription of the “Berkeley Guy” into the baseball beat writers’ fraternity, their perspective-altering trip to Cuba that compelled Gomez to pen an open letter to President Clinton and the bold story he wrote about Curt Schilling that rocked the baseball world on the morning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. We also hear hilarious and touching stories about Gomez as a sports dad and an infamous college tale involving Steve and fellow Daily Cal alum Mike Fleiss.