RIP Phil Pepe

Heart attack:

Longtime sports writer Pepe dies at 80

Had a helluva career.

 

From Marty Noble:

Sportswriter Phil Pepe passes away at age 80

 

Probably read as much Phil Pepe as I read anyone growing up.

RIP.

 

Hard to believe only 3 comments on the passing of Phil Pepe. IF you knew him, even a little, he had an influence on you. Here's what I posted on Facebook last Sunday when I first heard the sad news:

Posted this late last night as a comment on Mike Vaccaro's post, where I first heard that Phil Pepe had passed suddenly:

Oh, my! I'm deeply saddened to learn that Phil is gone. He was the guy the rest of us looked up to, all the time, not only for his reporting and writing skills and talents but also for the way he balanced his work life with his family life and made the latter an integral part of the former. His and Adele's routine of taking Jane, Jimmy, David (not sure about John) to spend spring training in Florida each spring with tutors was something we younger guys wanted one day to emulate. Apart from that, he was a GREAT guy with a wicked sense of humor, matched only by his humility and heart. I have never laughed longer or harder than the night I spent with the Pepe family and my roommates Ken Rosenberg and Andy MacPhail in a Chinese restaurant in Caracas on the New York baseball writers' trip to play against Venezuela's writers and broadcasters in 1974. When I left Pittsburgh to work at the LA Herald Examiner in '85, Phil told me I HAD to look up Leonard Koppett when I got out to the West Coast. That didn't happen quickly but it did happen and, damn, Phil was 100% correct because I fell into a remarkable working relationship with Leonard in the Bay Area, in Seattle and back in Newark. Phil and I shared a love for the music of Jackie Cain & Roy Kral, and caught a few of their shows together. One of my few regrets about leaving the East Coast was falling out of contact with Phil. Let that be a lesson to all of us: Pick up the damn phone once in a while and say hello to those who have meant something to us. RIP Phil and deepest condolences to Jayne, David, Jim & John.

 

I am stunned. Phil Pepe was my man. He made covering baseball in New York enjoyable. From peering at people in the stands with binoculars to cracking a joke, this guy was rival, a friend, and a great source of information. My heart and prayers go out to him and his family. RIP Phil.

 

RIP. Working alongside the NY baseball writers when they came to my market back in my snot-nose days was worth more than an advanced reporting class (good AND bad) in college, as far as how sports journalism worked. Pepe was one of the deans then.