New Boston Red Sox outfielder Kevin Pillar, who grew up in the Los Angeles area as a Lakers and Kobe Bryant fan, was most impressed by Bryant’s post-basketball career and had hoped to emulate it when he was done playing baseball. Pillar said he hopes to write a children’s book about baseball like the one Bryant wrote about basketball, but he had been waiting until his career was over to approach Bryant about it. “That’s something that’s going to haunt me,” Pillar said.