Quite a happy note

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- A 22-year-old summer intern, Peter Gammons began his newspaper career with the Globe June 6, 1968, the day Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Gammons and a kid from Boston College, Bob Ryan, had just reported for their first day as interns when they were assigned to produce a story on how Major League Baseball planned to honor the slain presidential candidate.

When an afternoon edition of the paper rolled off the presses, their story appeared on the front page, with their bylines in alphabetical order.

"Ryan is still mad," Gammons joked.

But Ryan, a Globe columnist who was traveling in Europe and could not be reached, would have been thrilled yesterday for Gammons, who was voted the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Gammons will receive the award at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony next summer. (Ryan received the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award in 1997.)

Gammons, 59, an ESPN baseball analyst, received 248 of the 448 votes cast by the baseball writers, with Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News finishing second with 134.

"It's certainly the greatest honor I've ever had," said Gammons, who was named National Sportswriter of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1993. "I'm still a baseball writer. I'm a baseball writer who sits in front of a TV camera."

Gammons, who grew up in Groton, Mass., and lives in Brookline, Mass., joined the Globe full time in 1969 just days after he completed his last final exam at the University of North Carolina. By 1972, he was covering the Red Sox on his way to becoming one of the nation's most prominent and pioneering baseball writers. He originated the baseball Sunday notes column that has become a mainstay at newspapers across the country.

"I thank [former Globe sports editors] Fran Rosa and Ernie Roberts and the people who gave me the chance at the Globe," Gammons said. "They gave me an opportunity no other paper would have given me to cover baseball regularly. And nobody else would have said, `You know what, I love the idea of a notes column.' "

Gammons wrote for the Globe and Sports Illustrated until he joined ESPN in 1988. He continues to break news regularly for ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine. But he remains a newspaperman at heart.

"I'll go into the Hall of Fame with ink stains," Gammons said, "not with makeup."

Exam for Ortiz
With his right shoulder continuing to bother him since he injured it diving into home plate at Fenway Park in August, David Ortiz is due to fly from the Dominican Republic to Boston this week for a medical exam. Ortiz played through the injury in helping the Sox win the World Series and during a tour of Japan, but he scratched plans to play in the Dominican Winter League so he could rest the shoulder. "We think it's something that rest probably will take care of," general manager Theo Epstein said, "but we want to make sure and learn as much about it as we can." . . . David Wells, who is due to undergo a physical exam tomorrow before the Sox complete a contract with him, underwent minor arthroscopic knee surgery about 10 days ago but is expected to be ready for spring training . . . Epstein took a break last night to honor special assistant Bill Lajoie as he received East Coast scout of the year honors from his peers. Lajoie is a former general manager of the Tigers. "He's been uncanny with his insight into players and very helpful with every aspect of the general manager's job," Epstein said. "What we didn't know we were getting was the incredible youthful exuberance and open-mindedness he has demonstrated." . . . Royce Clayton and the Arizona Diamondbacks reached a preliminary agreement on a $1.3 million, one-year contract. Clayton hit .279 with eight homers and 54 RBIs for Colorado last season.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.