Pedro Gomez, the late ESPN baseball reporter whose award-winning career spanned 35 years and included coverage of more than 25 World Series, was posthumously inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.
Prior to joining ESPN, Gomez, who was based in Phoenix, was a columnist and national baseball writer at the Arizona Republic. At ESPN, he covered baseball for “SportsCenter,” “Baseball Tonight” and other studio shows, live events and radio.
Gomez died unexpectedly in February 2021 at the age of 58. His family, including wife Sandra, sons Rio and Dante, and daughter Sierra attended the Tuesday ceremony and accepted the honor on his behalf.
“He was always just so proud of us, all three of us, me, my brother, my sister. It could be really easy for them to get caught up in his job and, you know, the lifestyle that that brings and to only be focused on that,” Rio Gomez, a pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization, said according to the Arizona Republic. “But he was always right back with us and just so incredibly proud of us. And he was able to, you know, stay present on the important things that mattered, which was his family.”
Also enshrined alongside Pedro Gomez were former Arizona Cardinals star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, former Phoenix Mercury star Jennifer Gillom (who coaches basketball at Phoenix’s Xavier College Preparatory), former Northern Arizona women’s basketball player Peggy Kennedy, Seton Catholic basketball coach Karen Self and the late Arizona-based philanthropist Michael Kennedy.
A video tribute was played for each inductee.
“He just had this way about him, and was able to just make everybody feel like he was their best friend,” Rio Gomez said while making an acceptance speech on his father’s behalf.