Sports

Nick Cafardo, veteran Boston Globe baseball columnist, dies at spring training

Nick Cafardo, the Boston Globe's nationally recognized baseball columnist, died Thursday in Fort Myers, Fla., the Globe reported Thursday afternoon. He was 62 years old.

"Cafardo's love of baseball and commitment to his craft compelled him to report to JetBlue Park, the spring training home of the Red Sox, on one of his rare days off," the Globe reported. "He was apparently stricken by an embolism at the park, and members of the Sox medical team were unable to revive him."

According to the Globe report, Cafardo started working for them in 1989, after covering the Sox for the Patriot Ledger.

"Over the next three decades, he established himself as one of Boston's most prominent sports reporters. He covered the Patriots for the Globe between stints on the paper's Sox beat, and he authored the 2002 book, "The Impossible Team: The Worst to First Patriots' Super Bowl Season," the Globe reported.

The Red Sox on Thursday evening released the following statement:

We are saddened by the sudden loss of long-time baseball reporter, Nick Cafardo. For over three decades, Nick was a fixture at Fenway Park and throughout ballparks across the country. His coverage was as consistent as the game itself. His opinions on the Red Sox and the most pressing issues facing Major League Baseball were a constant, particularly through the prominent Sunday baseball notes column in the Boston Globe.

The Cafardo family will always be a part of the Boston baseball family, and the Red Sox will honor Nick's legacy at the appropriate time.

Globe editor Brian McGrory said, "Nick was one of the best people to ever walk through our doors — generous with his time and insights, immensely knowledgeable, deeply devoted to the Globe. He had a view of the Red Sox and the game on a national scale that is virtually unrivaled."

Cafardo, a regular guest on New England Sports Network Red Sox pregame shows, is survived by his wife and two children.

For more information, read the full report at BostonGlobe.com.