How many ex MLB Players died of brain cancer – Search Videos
Brain Cancer in Baseball Raises Questions | TIME.com
In May 2022, the city of Philadelphia was struck by tragedy: the death of former Phillies pitcher David West. A ten-year MLB vet, West’s loss was a major blow to the Phillies family. Six former Philadelphia Phillies players, Tug McGraw, Darren Daulton, John Vukovich, John Oates, Ken Brett, and David West have died due to glioblastoma,
This shit sucks. Darren Daulton, John Vukovich, Tug McGraw and more may have given their actual life to the Phillies. Vuk and Tug at least had a championship to show for it. Daulton only got one real shot in Philly (before winning in Miami, his final season) and a career filled with mediocre teams. That’s a raw deal.
Was Veteran Stadium built on a Toxic Dumping site – Search
That place was a death trap, but I do have some fond memories there.
Rheal Cormier also died as a result of cancer just a year or two ago. He played on that astroturf for the Phillies as well, although it was in the late 90s-early 2000s. Cormier also pitched for St Louis and Montreal and Cincinnati, turf parks all.
Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia was built on a site that had been a dump, and dangerous chemicals were discovered in the turf at the old stadium 1 2. The stadium was considered a crown jewel when it was built, but by the turn of the century, it had lost its value4. It has a dirty legacy and was the home of the Eagles from 1971 to 2002 and the home of the Phillies from 1971 to 2003 5.
Brain cancer deaths of six former Phillies players must be investigated, says Dr. Siegel | Fox News Leave it to Liberal leaning Filthadelphia to kill its own players
But it was more than that.
5:42 Mike Ryan # 9 catching a ball dropped from a helicopter on opening day at Veterans Stadium. Ex-Phillies wonder if stadium is to blame for players’ brain cancer
See, West had died from glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer. West, however, was the sixth former Phillies to be killed by this disease. In fact, the rate of brain cancer among Phillies who played between 1971 and 2003 is roughly three times the average rate among adult men.
Great story. Crazy that Bayer bought Monsanto knowing Monsanto had the RoundUp cancer lawsuits piling up. Bayer settled a bunch of the lawsuits in 2020 for about $12 billion – but there are still several thousand pending that didn’t go with the class-action settlement.
Baseball is a statistic-driven sport (as is medical research). Given this, the Ken Brett (1973) and Johnny Oates (1975-76) case associations should be questioned simply due to the short time they were exposed (1 and 1.5 years). David West, too, due to only 4 years of exposure and the modern timeline (1993-96) likely with new turf products. I would question Daulton for the same ‘modern’ timeline (83-97). This leaves McGraw (75-84) and Vukovich (70-71, 76-81, 88-managed) with 10 and 9 seasons in the same era.
I find it interesting that almost ALL of the six Phillies (plus Gary Carter) were pitcher/catcher. The two positions that handle the baseball far more than any other on the field. Think how much the leather hide of the ball comes in contact with the turf. Now think about how players (especially pitchers) commonly lick their fingers.
So, this is simply a demonstration of how much information is unknown but should be looked at to determine if this is really a thing at all – or if it is much more widespread amongst the league players as a whole and/or other groups. How many cases throughout the league? How many cases amongst coaches, trainers, umpires, groundskeepers, bat boys, ball girls, vendors, season ticket holders, turf installers, turf factory workers, etc.
What years did the turf change on the field and in chemistry? Were any of the players doing steroids? Were any of their brains examined for CTE after their deaths? Did the cancers all start in the brain, or had it spread there? What treatments were they given by medical staff? And on and on. I’m not a fan of Monsanto or Bayer but if PFAS is all the turf contains, it would be hard to prove an association for the very reasons given in the video – they are everywhere and in everyone.
They have been around since the 1930s, known to be harmful in the 1950s, had corporate whistleblowers decades ago that the EPA did nothing about, and now in the mid-2020s everyone is acting surprised. Monsanto (Bayer), 3M, Dupont and who knows how many others have been making PFAS for 100 years and it’s in your pots and pans (Teflon), upholstery (Scotch guard), carpeting, etc.
Question becomes looking at these specific cancer rates among all baseball teams with “original” style artificial turf in the 60s – 90s. If the rates differ, then what is unique about Philadelphia and The Vet? And then do the same for football. It may be the pre-2000 artificial turf… it may be that plus other factors… it may not be the artificial turf – it could be something that was in the clubhouse, or the water supply. This rash of disease was alarming… and suspicious.
What was behind this spike? Why only Philly players?
And just how deep do the roots of this story go?
Not only Phillies Players, but Eagles. Reggie White, Andre Waters and Wes Hopkins.
White DID NOT DIE of Sleep Apnea. He had Brain Cancer. So did Waters and Hopkins.
It’s interesting that the Philadelphia Eagles also played at the Vet, but there seems to be no unusually high brain cancer rate among their players. But it should be noted that NFL teams have separate practice facilities, they only use the stadium on game day, which, unlike MLB, is only once a week instead of every day.
That was an interesting story, and it would be really good if they finally got to the bottom of what caused all the brain cancers. There were plenty of other teams with AstroTurf in their stadiums that didn’t experience the same problems, so it is entirely possible the cause was completely unrelated to the turf.
The existence of PFAS in the turf is a bit of a red herring. PFAS are a group of chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or our bodies. There is a lot we don’t know about how their accumulation in the environment and our bodies will affect our health.
There is a big push to limit the use of PFAS in manufacturing because we just don’t know if they are going to cause health problems in the future. We know we can’t easily get rid of them, and we don’t know if they are safe or dangerous, so we are trying to err on the side of caution by saying “let’s play it safe and not use these if we can avoid them.”
Also, if we assume the PFAS in the turf is the culprit, we still don’t know how the PFAS got from the turf to inside the players’ brains. Did the turf break down in sunlight and the players were inhaling turf dust? It’s possible, but then you would expect to see a lot of lung related issues. Perhaps it was breaking down and emitting fumes, possibly, but again why aren’t we seeing a spike in lung cancers?
And why only in Philly?
It’s entirely possible it was something unrelated to the stadium.
Maybe the equipment manager had a special recipe for eye black that was the cause. Maybe the water fountain in their locker room had some contaminants in it. I really wish someone would dig deeper. It could save lives in the future.
The Vet was green, fuzzy and full of poison.
The Philadelphia Inquirer published a full-scale investigation into the Veterans Stadium turf after six former Phillies, who all played on the field, died of a rare brain cancer. They bought a couple slabs of turf from eBay that were part of the field from 1977-81 and sent them to labs to be tested. This is what they found:
Tests run on two of the samples by Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environmental Testing found the turf contained 16 different types of PFAS, or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances — so-called “forever chemicals,” – Search which the EPA has said cause “adverse health effects that can devastate families.”
The Vet turf will be the first domino to fall in terms of linking diseases to playing surfaces. AstroTurf carpeted more football and baseball stadiums than shag did in every porno from the 70s. It was invented by Monsanto. A company who invented a chemical that poisoned U.S. troops during the Vietnam War and poisoned the food supply.
They indirectly killed people and somehow Comcast still beat them in a “2014 Worst Company in America” poll. But now Comcast is indirectly killing Flyers fans with bad contracts and no plan for the future so I guess it all evens out in the end.
The NFL is mostly played once a week (Sunday or Monday at the time) including playoffs in January. Plus the NFL starts in late summer into the heart of winter in January/February depending if you make the playoffs. So the Turf would freeze and whatever was in the turf would freeze as well. When it’s in the middle of summer with Humidity, mold and other pathogens would grow and spread faster at a greater rate.
MLB teams not only play the games there, but show up every day at the stadium several hours beforehand, much more exposure. Worth mentioning the NFL only plays in the stadium 10 days a year and baseball 81. I’ve also heard it’s due to the Eagles playing in colder weather. When Astroturf gets hot, that’s when it’s hazardous. My take on this is that when heated the Astro turf released the PCBs easier, plus the Eagles play in fall and winter, where there is less heating.
@PatRyan-c7z
I played on that field as a kid at a summer camp. This was before everyone started passing away from brain cancer. I can distinctly remember 30+ years later how hot the field was and how you could smell the turf. What I didn’t know as a kid, but one thing I learned later on as an auto body tech is that plastic off-gases when heated to a certain temperature.
That old astro turf would sometimes off-gas at lower than 140°. Sometimes as low as 77°. That means on every day of the mid summer, that field temp was anywhere from 105-130 on the regular depending on cloud coverage. Not to mention the heat reflecting off the turf. When he says it cooked players, he’s right. They practically force-fed us water to keep us hydrated for those 3 days.
At least a dozen NFL players have suffered from ALS
A lot of people who played in Oakland or San Francisco also died of ALS. People forget that Bobby Murcer played two years with the Giants, and that Candlestick Park had artificial turf in those years.
When Dwight Clark announced in March he has ALS, it was a devastating blow to those around him and to his many fans. For individuals who were around the 49ers in the mid-1960s, the news brought back some painful memories. More than 20 years after they were 49ers teammates, Gary Lewis, Matt Hazeltine and Bob Waters passed away from the rare disease.
As part of ALS Awareness Month, the latest edition of “The 49ers Insider Podcast” remembers those men with, “One of the great mysteries — The story of three 49ers diagnosed with ALS.”
The incidence of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is two per 100,000 people in the United States and it is estimated more than 20,000 Americans may be living with ALS at any given time, according to the ALS Association. Yet, on this one 49ers team, three players developed ALS and died within a short period of time in the late-1980s.
— Matt Hazeltine graduated from Tamalpais High in Mill Valley and was a star at the University of California. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame posthumously in 1989. Hazeltine played 14 seasons with the 49ers from 1955 to ’68 as a linebacker.
He died on Jan. 13, 1987, at the age of 53. That year, Bill Walsh introduced the Hazeltine Iron Man Award, which is given annually to the 49ers most courageous and inspirational defensive player.
Gary Lewis went to high school at San Francisco’s Polytechnic High, across the street from Kezar Stadium. He also played running back at City College of San Francisco before finishing his college career at Arizona State.
Lewis was a sixth-round draft pick of the 49ers in 1964. He played six seasons with his hometown team. Lewis was diagnosed with ALS in November of 1986 and died less than a month later. He was 44.
— Bob Waters played four seasons with the 49ers from 1960 to ’63 as a quarterback and defensive back. He was on the 49ers during training camp in 1964 before going into coaching. Waters threw the first touchdown pass out of coach Red Hickey’s shotgun formation in leading an upset over the two-time defending NFL champion Baltimore Colts in 1960.
Waters served 20 seasons as head football coach at Western Carolina. He devoted the final years of his life trying to find answers to solve this mystery. Waters contacted as many of his former teammates as possible to see if they were experiencing similar problems.
Studies were done that examined the use of DMSO, painkillers and, even, the fertilizer used on the 49ers practice field in Redwood City.
“He led a single-minded, tough, courageous mission to get as much information as possible,” said Dr. Stan Appel, chair of the department of neurology at Houston Methodist, who worked closely with Waters.
“We never quite resolved why there had been three players amongst a small group that developed ALS.”
Waters died on May 29, 1989. He was 50.
Waters’ wife, Sheri, said she was saddened to learn of Clark’s diagnosis.
“I am very sorry to learn about Dwight Clark’s ALS diagnosis,” Sheri Waters told NBC Sports Bay Area in a statement. “I know how difficult it will be for Dwight and his family, as they adjust to this news. Bob would be very sad to know that after all his efforts to seek information to help find a cure for this horrible disease, ALS continues to affect these good men.
“I know that Bob died believing that one day there would be no more ALS. I am still so proud of Bob for his courage and willingness to help others. I wish the very best for the Clark family.”
While publicly disclosing his condition on March 19, Clark made the following statement:
“I’ve been asked if playing football caused this. I don’t know for sure. But I certainly suspect it did. And I encourage the NFLPA and the NFL to continue working together in their efforts to make the game of football safer, especially as it relates to head trauma.”
Said Dr. Appel, “What Dwight Clark is saying is right on target. Namely, let’s do everything we can to find the causes, to find the therapies that are meaningful for him and for all present and future cases of ALS.”
Former 49ers running back Ken Willard, 73, has not experienced any alarming physical conditions in his post-football life. He cautions against automatically assigning blame to the sport of football.
“Some people try to simplify this issue, but it’s a very complex issue,” Willard said. “I think there’s a lot of research that’s yet to be done. (But) as far as being concerned, I think you’re a fool if you’re not concerned.”
Dr. Appel pointed out there have been studies that claim the incidence of ALS with former football players is four times greater than the general population. But, he said, the data is “far from convincing from a scientific point of view.”
“We know that any sort of trauma can be aggravating in a number of conditions,” Dr. Appel said. “But whether trauma causes it, there is no evidence that trauma causes it, and therefore there is no evidence in football players that trauma will cause ALS.
“Now, there are data that suggests that perhaps once you’re going to get ALS that it can make it worse. And that data is still contested. But I’m a believer that trauma can aggravate ALS, even if it doesn’t start it.”
Can remember a coworker who lived in South Philly telling me that the area that veterans stadium was a dumping area before WW2. I wonder if that possible toxic ground made the astro turf more cancer causing. John Kruk had testicular cancer too.
It makes me sick. I’m from Philadelphia and spent a lot of time in the Vet. How could the club officials allow it to go on like that? That’s what sucks about living in a free country. It doesn’t matter that everything Monstrato or whatever it touches dies, as long as they skate under the law, they’ll always be in business, deaths or not. By the way, I believe our club president, David Montgomery died of some sort of brain cancer. – Search
A number of former Royals players also died from brain cancer, such as Dan Quisenberry. Kauffman Stadium had artificial turf from 1973 to 1994. Dick Howser, who was the manager of the Kansas City Royals in 1985, the year that they won their first World Series championship, also died from brain cancer. He died less than two years after the 1985 World Series victory. The final baseball game that Dick Howser ever managed was the 1986 All-Star Game from the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
Did Houston Astros have any Former Players die of brain cancer – Search
Gary Carter also died of brain cancer and he spent a bulk of his career playing at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, which in itself, had artificial turf. Derek Aucoin also died of brain cancer . Played for the Expos in Montreal along with Gary Carter. Good point; Gary was still playing 36 divisional games per year on the turf as a Met (9 each in Philly, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Montreal; the Mets and the Cubs had the only grass in the division), plus 6 in Cincinnati and 6 in Houston. (We don’t have cases from Cincy or Houston, and Quiz is the only affected Cardinal that I know of, so the levels there might have been lesser, but still cumulative after Carter’s many seasons in Olympic Stadium)
Did St Louis have any Former Players die of brain cancer.
Former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Chris Duncan died from brain cancer September 6, 2019, 2 3 4 5. He battled glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, for years before his passing 3. His mother also died from glioblastoma in 2013 3.
It would be interesting to look at former St. Louis Cardinals players who died from cancers like this. As a youth in St. Louis I recall that Busch Stadium was the first outdoor MLB stadium to install AstroTurf. This was for the 1970 season. So it was an early generation of the stuff, roughly contemporary to Philadelphia’s. (Some other MLB stadiums opted for Tartan Turf, made by 3M, so I don’t know if that makes any difference.)
I’m sure the majority of players from that era spent some extensive amount of time around astroturf, there needs to be some substantial evidence, it’s too easy to have a villain of the ilk of Monsanto and declare that it’s their fault, I have to believe the some football players would have to suffer some of the same fate, regardless where they practiced, they were getting clobbered and drilled into that turf league wide ,maybe the warmer Temps and exposure with excessive heat was culpable but it’s pure speculation until shown.
Tim Wakefield spent the early part of his career at Three Rivers. What’s really odd is that the Astrodome was remarkably inexpensive. It cost only $34 million, was actually finished ahead of schedule, and was a quality stadium. Meanwhile, Veterans Stadium cost a whopping $60 million, was finished way behind schedule and very quickly became a mouse-infested dump.
Many of these cases were pitchers and catchers.
I thought I’d mention the theory that early radar gun technology had just a little bit to do with some of this. The theory being that the majority of the deceased were either pitcher or catcher. Which led to them getting hit with larger doses of high frequency microwaves. Which led to increased exposure, combined with the turf, led to the higher risk of glioblastoma.
Stalker Radar Guns- Testicular cancer – Search
The American Cancer Society hasn’t exactly ruled it out, but says it’s unlikely the cause is radio frequencies. While adding they had “concern that in some circumstances, some forms of non-ionizing radiation might still have other effects on cells that might somehow result in cancer.” I’ve heard that a lot of scouts got testicular or abdominal cancers from those early radar guns.
Stalker Radar Guns- The Best in Baseball!
Draw your own conclusions on that. They also found out how the talc in the rosin bags (pitchers) might have asbestos, another known carcinogen, and all the chewing tobacco risks. Which I don’t buy because these factors were all over the league and other teams did not have increased rates of brain cancer.
@mfm4205
pitchers and catchers touched the ball hundreds of more times a season than any other position. My theory is the chemicals leached into the dirt, those guys were constantly touching the dirt, then sometimes licking their fingers, leading to injecting way more of the stuff than anyone else. I think of all the MLB deaths linked to this type of cancer, I only recall 1 guy not being a catcher or pitcher (was an outfielder), though I think a few first basemen (the guys next likely to touch the ball after pitchers and catchers) died as well.
The 43 NBA Players Who Battled, Survived or Died of Cancer – Interbasket
@big8dog887
@mfm4205 The counterargument to that is that balls are switched out of the game as soon as they touch the ground. However, bringing it full circle to the point where I think you could be right is the fact that the discarded balls are recycled into batting practice and bullpen sessions, which, as you point out, still means pitchers and catchers touch the ball way more than anyone else. Well played.
But this prevalent in football is another question? Almost all of the stadiums we’re talking about were dual use. What about the CFL? At that time the whole CFL used turf. What about the Astrodome and Kingdome.? The Kingdome was a covered stadium that hosted the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners, SuperSonics and Sounders from 1976 to 2000. It was demolished by implosion in 2000 and replaced by Lumen Field. Did the Seattle Mariners have Any players die of brain cancer
Turf exposed to elements vs not exposed. Not defending Monsanto, just asking.
@35diamondgirl
I knew the cause of death for a few of these players, but it hadn’t occurred to me that their prolonged exposure to chemicals embedded in astroturf at Veterans Stadium might be key to understanding the cause of their cancer. I lost my 52-year-old husband to glioblastoma.
He was a career chemical engineer who never worked for Monsanto, but I remember him once expressing relief for having rejected a job offer from Monsanto many years earlier, such was their reputation even within the chemical industry. My husband was an avid gardener who used Round-Up weed killer for years before he finally chose to grow organically. I’ve often wondered if his cancer was a result of his use of Round-Up, or any of a number of chemicals to which he was exposed over the years.
The Monsanto Story – Search Videos
The Monsanto Company was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation1. It was founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto’s best-known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide developed in the 1970s1. As the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds in the world, Monsanto has transformed agriculture, but it has also faced an anti-GMO movement and lawsuits alleging harm to human health2.
@Jessica_Roth
11:16 there’s a reason Monsanto is sometimes referred to as “Mon Satan”
Don’t forget that the war in Ukraine is largely a Monsanto effort as well. They want their hands on the “black earth” in the eastern part. When Viktor Yanukovych (the President in 2014) passed a law forbidding the sale of land to non-Ukrainians, that was the trigger for the “Maidan” coup organized by top Hillary Ciinton aides Robert Kagan and Victoria Nuland. (Hillary herself had left State by then, preparing for her Presidential run, but may have had a part in drafting the plans.)
The fact that Yanukovych is a Russian-speaker and drew almost all his support from the Russian-speaking areas now being fought over (check out the election maps; it’s like a dividing line across the country. Yanukovych’s party was even called “The Party of the Regions”) made a convenient political excuse…but the resources were the real drivers of the coup and the wars resulting from it.
(The European Central Bank had a hand in it, too)
I recall reading in an issue of Sports Illustrated back in the 90s that there was a similar issue concerning a late-50s San Francisco 49ers team where multiple players died of ALS – Search
As for Monsanto, another YouTuber, “Company Man”, made an interesting video called Monsanto – Why They’re Hated For those who haven’t already, check out the movie Michael Clayton. It’s a fictional story, but the villain of the story is pretty much Monsanto (called UNorth in the film). Here’s the plot: “A law firm brings in its “fixer” to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multi-billion dollar class action suit.”
How Can I Tell How Much Radiation My Cell Phone Emits?
Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value
Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, and there is no consistent or credible scientific evidence of health problems caused by this exposure135. To check the radiation emitted by your phone, you can determine the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) value24.
Testing Cell Phones for Emitting Radiation – Search Videos
Great video, sir. (BTW: in one – but so far ONLY ONE – instance has it been demonstrated that Monsanto was the wronged party. It has been proven via numerous scientific studies that Rachael Carson either didn’t know what she was talking about, or she outright lied: the “devastating effects” of DDT were wildly exaggerated. Agent Orange, PCBs and Roundup, OTOH, are every bit as terrible as claimed.)