Now is our third installment. Now I get to talk about a guy that I've been a fan of since he was a beat writer for the Mets. It's Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record. He currently covers the New York Yankees, and I read the man every single day for insight and nuggets that many of the other writers don't offer. He's unique and talented and I love to check him out in the sports pages every day.
I've been reading Pete for a long, long time actually and when BYB began, it was guy's like Pete that inspired me to give it a shot myself. I finally got some nerve to reach out to the guy whose writing I appreciated. We interviewed him here and released NO ONE DOES THE YANKEES BETTER THAN PETE CALDERA. It was there that I found out that he wasn't only a great writer, he was a terrific singer, singing the classics from crooners like Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett... some of the guys that I grew up listening to in the visits to my grandmother's home in Whitestone. I knew all the words, even at age 9, and that stayed with me to this day.
After chatting about baseball, music and life, I took a trek to New York City on a date with my wife one night. We sat in at the Carnegie Club and we watched the man work. I was taken by him. I've told you all this before, but it's worth repeating, Caldera can sing!
Our friendship grew, and every once in a while we chat about stuff. He's approachable. He's not a snob. He knows I'm not some groupie... I'm happy to say, after all the years of BYB... Pete and I are friends, and I appreciate that very much. I even did him a favor... and yes, in return I helped myself out when it came to visuals for BYB. I took some photos of him singing at the Carnegie Club. I did it as a Thank you to Pete. Pete's not a self promoter. He's old school. He goes in, does the job, works hard and goes and lives his life. He's passionate about his craft be it writing or singing. I know that because whenever I'd try and plug an engagement for Pete on BYB, I could never find a solid picture of him singing. So... I gave back... I helped the guy out. That's because the guy is one of the good ones. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. His peers do too. Ken Davidoff, Wally Matthews, Ken Rosenthal. All the guys he sees on a regular basis throughout the season say the same thing. Pete's just a stand up guy.
So here's to you Pete, thanks for the bond over music. Thanks for understanding what we do at BYB and thanks for knowing I'm not some stalker... I'm a fan and am inspired by you. I appreciate your friendship... this ones for you.
Who's next in BYB's "Bonding over" series? find out soon.
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