Old Time Family Baseball

In a column on MLB.com, Pater Gammons covers the recent movements of now Cubs President Theo Epstein and new Red Sox GM Ben Cherington. It’s a solid piece if reporting if you want to catch up on that saga, but if you’re interested in the more lurid story lines behind the plot, look no further than the section where Gammons reveals that Epstein had a stalker. 

Full disclosure: I worked in the checkout of a Whole Foods near Theo’s hometown of Brookline. I saw him come in to the store twice (baseball hat pulled waaaay down), and both times he came through my line and bought a rotisserie chicken. We exchanged the usual pleasantries, but I didn’t do anything to let him know that I knew who he was. Besides giving him a homemade card whose words were made up of letters cut out of a People magazine. 

I also bagged Dustin Pedroia’s groceries when he came in with his wife. I said, “Day off?” He gave a much more polite response. It was pretty cool, NBD.

The fact that this news comes around the same time as Boston’s announcement that John Lackey needs Tommy John surgery is, needless to say, clearly suspicious and worthy of a conspiracy theory.