One standout memory I have of that '84 series is my old buddy Rick Sutcliff talking trash about how he'd "relish" pitching a game 5 should it have happened. Well it did and we know the end result. Would have liked to have seen the Padres win the World Series and shut Sparky Anderson up but it did not happen. The Cubs had some good units in '69, '84' 89 and 03 but always got bit by a snake in the grass.
If any good could come out of this tragic & premature death now might be the time to ban chewing tobacco among players at all levels. I remember watching a medical show one morning about 35 years ago where a kid 17 years old had to have his entire pallet removed due to constant use of chewing tobacco. Lenny Dykstra a huge tobacco user himself spoke out on the dangers of chew. Not more then 2 weeks later I saw that crazy hypocritical bastard in the Mets dug out with a wad so big in his mouth you'd have thought he was hiding a golf ball in his cheek.
I always prefered "Big League Chew" bubblegum...altho' there was a year, I preferred (no shit) to Chew Red-Man, and smoke a Cigar at the same time. Just one year, but NEVER on a ball field....!
You don't hear much about oral cancer but I can tell you first hand that its incredible painful. The man who was going to adopt me over 50 years ago (I still call him dad) is 83 years old & has gone through 3 major oral surgeries. He's currently going through radiation & chemo because he's to high a risk for another surgery.
My grandfather chewed brown mule tobacco so me being a smart ass kid asked him if I could try it. He broke off a chaw I put it in my mouth and that was the first and last time for that. Dykstra, I heard there were huge brown spots in the outfield grass wherever he played.
May God rest his soul! they banned chewing tobacco to us minors, don't understand why they didn't do it to all. do you think they wish they had?
I was unaware that it was banned in the minors, thanks for the info. And I do see less & less MLP using it. The loss of Gwynn seems like such an unnecessary waste.
I agree on that one Rick....geezus, I too knew a man, (not as close tho' as your proxy dad), who passed from oral jaw cancer.....after 3 surgeries, and no lower jaw, the sight of his face, was more than I could handle....poor guy, I felt for him....! Yet, he never forgave himself, for what he said, "this horrid face, which prohibits me from going out in public" his last days. Enough alone to make me quit chewing, and that was hell.......28 years ago...
Didn't the film critic Roger Ebert just die from that last year? Talk about being un-recognizable. I didn't even know it was him.
LOL... At 15 yrs. old, During a visit to my Aunt and Uncles, in Goodland KS., my older Cousin broke off a piece of Plug Tobacco, and we chewed, my 1st time with chewing tobaccy.... 30 minutes later, I was green faced, laying on the grass behind the barn, (literally), rolling over only to puke, heaving unlike any poison to ever enter this body.... I swore I'd never chew again....10 years later, Red Man, and Leif Garrett became my friends for a few years...so I lied to myself.....however, I have NEVER EVER tried Plug Chewing Tobacco again, or since then....!!!
