Sports programming note

This is interesting, I had no idea he was living in the Springs...

Former San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants pitcher, and current Colorado Springs resident Dave Dravecky is the subject of FSN LIVE’s “Spotlight” segment Thurs., June 5 at 10:00 p.m. MT.

Marc Stout sits down with Dravecky to talk about his playing days in California before and after Dravecky was treated for a cancerous desmoids tumor in his pitching arm in 1988.

Less than a year after having half of his deltoid muscle removed, Dravecky was pitching in the Giants minor league organization and in August 1989 he made his return to the major leagues. In just his second start after returning, Dravecky began feeling a tingling sensation in his pitching arm. In the sixth inning, after allowing a homerun and hitting a player, Dravecky threw a pitch that snapped his humerus bone and ultimately ended his playing career. Later on during the season x-rays revealed that cancer had returned and after two years of his arm continuing to deteriorate, Dravecky had his left arm and shoulder amputated.

Dravecky is now a motivational speaker based in Colorado Springs and run’s “Dave Dravecky’s Outreach of Hope.” Below are excerpts from Stout’s interview with Dravecky.

ON CHANCES OF RETURNING TO BASEBALL AFTER FIRST CANCER SURGERY: “Doctors said, ‘Outside of a miracle, you’ll never pitch again.’ Those were the words out of our doctor. My makeup is such that I said, ‘You know, that’s what they are saying, but I don’t know what the end result is going to be and in order to find out, I have got to at least try.’”

ON BREAKING HIS ARM DURING GAME AGAINST MONTREAL EXPOS IN 1989: “There was a loud crack in my left ear and all I remember was going down and (Giants teammate) Will Clark saying, ‘Breathe, Dave, breathe,’ because apparently I was going into shock.”

ON ISSUES HE FACED AFTER HAVING HIS ARM AMPUTATED: “I was really wrestling with my worth. I was a baseball player. To define your worth as a baseball player all you have to do is turn to the back of your baseball card, look at the statistics and realize that this is what defines our worth. Now there isn’t a baseball card so who is Dave Dravecky and what is he worth?”

A replay of FSN LIVE airs Fri., June 6 at 5:00 p.m. MT.