At fantasy camp a few years ago he and I were in adjacent sinks in the locker room, just cleaning up after a game. He ran his comb through his very thin hair, gave a wan smile, and said to me "I guess you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit." He had zero "I used to be a big leaguer" attitude. Nice guy.
I was the Buffalo Head Society's point gal (the only one who could take time off from work during February and March) for Spring Training stories between 1987 and 1994 or so. Dave Nevard and a friend published their newsletter in the most primitive way for a year before I volunteered to upgrade their work, then I did a spring training report on the Red Sox and other Florida teams for a couple of weeks in those years. Of course the reason I started doing this at all was the lingering reaction I had to the horrible end to the 1986 World Series, like so many Red Sox fans. I was thrilled to see how the Red Sox organization treated the 1986 players when the 2004 team won the Series.
Some things Gedman told me "back in the day" come back to me when I read articles like that. He suffered from back strain arising from scoliosis like I do, and I can testify to the problems a back that's not quite on the plumb line causes. He wore a small wedge inside one shoe to help compensate.
