Jump to content

Brain cancer deaths of six former Phillies players must be investigated


Recommended Posts

Posted

Brain cancer deaths of six former Phillies players must be investigated, says Dr. Siegel

Death of David West leads to questions about Veterans Stadium

Quote

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel said on Wednesday a string of brain cancer deaths of former Philadelphia Phillies players must be investigated.

"It's a cluster, and it needs to be examined. The amount of incidents of deadly brain cancer are about three out of 100,000. This is three or four times that or more," Siegel told "Fox & Friends" after former Phillies pitcher David West died from brain cancer at age 57.

West, who pitched for the Phillies from 1993-96, is the sixth former Phillies player to die of brain cancer. Other deaths included Ken Brett in 2003, Tug McGraw and Johnny Oates in 2004, John Vukovich in 2007, and Darren Daulton in 2017.

Siegel told Brian Kilmeade the use of radar guns should be investigated as one possible cause, while many have speculated in recent years that the since-demolished Veterans Stadium may have played a role.

 

phillies.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

"The military has done research on microwaves that are given at very high frequency and a lot of exposure. You get hundreds of incidences of the radar gun being used during a game. I’m not saying that’s what it is … but they have got to look more at the radar gun," he said, adding that chemicals used in old Astroturf should also be investigated. 

He noted that five of the players are former pitchers and catchers, who would be positioned closest to a radar gun. 

 

Cancer-deaths-of-former-Phillies-players

Larry Andersen, former pitcher for the Phillies, said the matter is "confusing" because while six former Phillies players had brain cancer, former grounds crew workers did not. He said it's been "devastating" to see these deaths occur.

"I don't know what to do," he said, adding he has not had any headaches or signs of illness. 

Longtime Phillies manager and player Larry Bowa questioned whether there was a link after the 2013 cancer diagnosis of Daulton, who passed away four years later. Siegel noted that brain cancer has not been seen in former Philadelphia Eagles players, who played at the same stadium. 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/cancer-deaths-former-phillies-players-investigated-siegel

 

Posted

Glioblastoma occurs in 3 people out of every 100,000.

The Phillies have had 6 fatal cases out of 533 players who played in the Vet.

Across MLB, there are other players who died of it and played games at the Vet and other astro turf fields like Gary Carter.

The multiple members of the KC Royals have died as well... 

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/05/19/cancer-and-the-kansas-city-royals/

 

  • Sad 1
Posted

Baseball radar guns emit non-ionizing radiation and are very low power. Plenty of other professions are exposed to similar wavelengths at much higher levels such as police officers, commercial and military aviation, etc. It could be something else related to the facilities, or other equipment, or just a statistical outlier, but bet money that it ain't the radar guns.

Posted

If it is radar guns, most if not all MLB teams would show a similar pattern of cancer. I don't see any correlation to the Vet, or else former Eagles players would show the same signs. The Phillies players in question have careers that spanned different years and eras. Oates only pitched for the Phillies for 2 years, Ken Brett only 1. I agree they should investigate, but seems like a statistical anomaly,  false correlation.

  • Like 1
Posted
17 minutes ago, toolg said:

If it is radar guns, most if not all MLB teams would show a similar pattern of cancer. I don't see any correlation to the Vet, or else former Eagles players would show the same signs. The Phillies players in question have careers that spanned different years and eras. Oates only pitched for the Phillies for 2 years, Ken Brett only 1. I agree they should investigate, but seems like a statistical anomaly,  false correlation.

Brett played quite a few years in stadiums with artificual turf  (KC, Pittsburgh, Minnesota)

Oates played in Atlanta and Philly and also spent over 20 years as a manager and coach.

Assuming it is a Vet Stadium thing, there are plenty of industrial sites in that area that could also have cause things like air or groundwater pollution.  (Navy Yard, Sunoco Refinery, Airport)

Posted
Just now, iladelphxx said:

Brett played quite a few years in stadiums with artificual turf  (KC, Pittsburgh, Minnesota)

Oates played in Atlanta and Philly and also spent over 20 years as a manager and coach.

Assuming it is a Vet Stadium thing, there are plenty of industrial sites in that area that could also have cause things like air or groundwater pollution.  (Navy Yard, Sunoco Refinery, Airport)

So you think it's related to astroturf? How many stadiums had artificial turf in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s? Cancer would be seen across many sports, baseball and football, etc.

Posted
8 minutes ago, iladelphxx said:

Brett played quite a few years in stadiums with artificual turf  (KC, Pittsburgh, Minnesota)

Oates played in Atlanta and Philly and also spent over 20 years as a manager and coach.

Assuming it is a Vet Stadium thing, there are plenty of industrial sites in that area that could also have cause things like air or groundwater pollution.  (Navy Yard, Sunoco Refinery, Airport)

"Astroturf gives you brain cancer!" 

:roll: 

Posted

At the Vet, you could probably get cancer from the rats.

Posted

I would think that it would seem unlikely to be something specific to The Vet or (I'd think) there'd be a number of Eagles players with this situation over the years. But I suppose the Phillies played far more games per season there than the Eagles. So if it is 'Vet specific', Eagles players had much less exposure to whatever it would be that caused this. 

A study would definitely be called for, I would think. 

  • Like 1
Posted

Who knows but baseball players would spend way more time on the field than football players

Posted

How the hell do you investigate this?

Posted
4 minutes ago, Toastrel said:

How the hell do you investigate this?

Maybe there is something underground but I doubt they are going to dig up the parking lot

Posted
3 minutes ago, Toastrel said:

How the hell do you investigate this?

I know the site is a parking lot now, but if there's something within the site itself, (in the ground), they could still detect it. If it's turf related, I'm sure a good bit of that turf still exists in the form of souvenirs or in Eagles/Phillies archives or whatever. 

They could definitely investigate, but whether it could be successful in finding anything (or not), I don't know. 

2 minutes ago, Joe Shades 73 said:

Maybe there is something underground but I doubt they are going to dig up the parking lot

They'd probably be able to do some core sampling throughout the parking lot, rather than digging it up. 

Posted

Did they use any chemicals on the turf / field?

Posted
1 minute ago, Dave Moss said:

Did they use any chemicals on the turf / field?

Probably but most teams likely did

Posted
2 hours ago, VaBeach_Eagle said:

I know the site is a parking lot now, but if there's something within the site itself, (in the ground), they could still detect it. If it's turf related, I'm sure a good bit of that turf still exists in the form of souvenirs or in Eagles/Phillies archives or whatever. 

They could definitely investigate, but whether it could be successful in finding anything (or not), I don't know. 

They'd probably be able to do some core sampling throughout the parking lot, rather than digging it up. 

Yeah they may dig a small sampling well. The chemical plant I worked in was older building owned by another company before we took over. They had lots of environmental issues in the past and every month or so someone came and took samples from three 8 inch pipes that had been sunk into the earth for the purpose of obtaining dirt and water samples.

Posted
2 hours ago, Toastrel said:

How the hell do you investigate this?

In large part, records need to be reconstructed

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...