The sports writing world lost a titan on Monday night.
Nick Peters, the Hall of Fame baseball writer who covered the San Francisco Giants for nearly 50 years, died at his home after a long illness. He was 75.
“The Greek” as Peters was affectionately known started covering the Giants in 1961. He served as the team’s beat writer for both the Oakland Tribune and the Sacramento Bee before retiring in 2007, and witnessed nearly 5,000 Giants games in the process. Peters also attended every Giants home opener as either a spectator or a reporter from the time the team moved to San Francisco in 1958 until his health problems prevented him from doing so.
Peters was a San Francisco native who covered a parade of Giants greats over the course of his career, from Willie Mays and Willie McCovey to Will Clark and Barry Bonds. Peters was also known for his cordial relationship with Bonds, whom Peters had known since Bonds was a child. In fact, Peters was one of the few writers that Bonds always seemed to make time to talk to, even at his most surly.
In 2009, Peters was awarded the J.G. Taylor Spink award and a spot in the writers wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The fact that Peters was a local writer for most of his career and still managed to win the Spink award shows just how much respect he had from his peers. The Giants even named the room where players and managers are interviewed after him.
As news of Peters’ passing started to break tributes from all over the country started to pour in on social media. From local Bay Area writers to national baseball writers, everyone seemed to have a kind word to say, a warm memory to share, or a story about how Peters had been kind to them early on in their careers. It’s clear that Peters was someone most baseball writers looked up to and tried to emulate, both professionally and personally.
Peters is survived by his wife of 42 years, Lise.
