David Hess, who played three seasons with the Orioles, is back in baseball. Hess had two harrowing bouts with cancer, and he’s now cancer-free and pitching for the High Point Rockers of the Independent League. We spoke about his health, his baseball career and his hopes for the future.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Question: How are you feeling?
David Hess: “Everything’s feeling really good. I’ve been a month back in baseball now, and everything’s feeling good on the mound and physically off the field, everything’s feeling good. For the first time in quite a few years, we’ve been able to catch our breath and be excited about what’s coming up.”
Q: Why are you trying to pitch again?
Hess: “From the beginning, even when I got my initial diagnosis, my goal was to get back, hopefully to Major League Baseball. If not, get back to baseball and prove to myself a disease, a diagnosis didn’t take away my career entirely. That was always a focus of mine. That was always a goal.
“As I started to get some good news and feel better, a lot of time had passed between the time I’d been able to pitch, and so now, being here in Independent ball, I’ve heard from a lot of people, it’s a really unique experience, but it’s a cool way to renew the love for the game. It also paired well because with all that time off, I had to reestablish that I was healthy, and that I could pitch at a high level. This is where I’m at right now. Hopefully, it’s not the last stop. I’m thankful for the opportunity that the Rockers gave me to come out and get started with everything.”
Q: What was your illness, and how serious was it?
Hess: “Initially, we had the germ cell tumor, a pineapple-sized tumor in my chest that was creating all sorts of havoc. We ran through treatment. Everything was starting to feel better, but then my follow-up scan about a year later showed that things were still not cooperating the way we expected. Then we went in and did another biopsy and found out that because the tumor was so big, the inside of that.
“We don’t know if it was from the chemo because of that, or something that was inside of it originally, but angiosarcoma was the big diagnosis, but that’s what we’ve been fighting for the last few years. Initially it was a germ cell tumor and then angiosarcoma was the not-so-good diagnosis. Typically when you hear that, the prognosis is not good. We kept working through it and found a way to get to the other side.”
Q: When were you declared cancer-free?
Hess: “I have a scan every three months, but [Thursday] was the one-year mark of being in remission, and we got that scan, and it showed all clear, so that was really, really exciting. In the fall of ’24, that was when the first scan that showed that nothing was going on, and I was still going through treatment at that time.
“I got hit hard with chemo for about six months, and the goal there was to get everything cleared out, and if you get an all clear scan, you have to do another round or two of treatment to squash anything that might be too microscopic to see.
“Looking back, we recognized that last year in August was when everything was cancer free. I still had to do another round of treatment. When I was officially done with my chemo treatments was three years to the exact day of my original diagnosis.”
Q: When you were at your lowest, did you fantasize about returning to the major leagues?
Hess: “All the time. All the time. I remember a couple of distinct times when I was sitting in the chair getting treatment. It’s a giant sterile, hospital-looking room, a lot of beeping sounds with groans and aches and pains that you can feel.
“There were a lot of times that I would sit there and find some self-motivation. That was a big driving force. I always felt that if I could get to the other side and get a healthy diagnosis, I really felt I had some ability left in the tank to go out there and pitch…I thought about it all the time. That was something to help me get through everything.”
Q: Can your story be an inspirational one to others?
Hess: “That’s something that’s been really cool for me because my standpoint has always been difficult things are always going to happen to everybody at some point, and nobody is exempt from that. If I’m going to go through something like this, I at least wanted to be a resource or something that helps other people get through times like that as well.
“Comments that I’ve been seeing about a family member going through something or a conversation with one of my teammates that has a friend that just got a cancer diagnosis and be able to shed some light on how to help a little bit.”
Q: You played with the Orioles with what you might have thought at the time, were tough times, but were there good memories here?
Hess: “It was a difficult time. It was a rebuilding time. I know this year has been a little wonky, but to see all the success, a lot of people would agree, it was well worth it.
“I still keep up with a lot of the teammates that we had. I hear from them. It’s fun to follow their careers and their journeys and how they’re doing now. Any time you get to put on a major league uniform, it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, it’s just exciting to be there and to be able to experience that. Of course, we would have loved to have won some more games. I would have liked to have some better stats.
“That’s an opportunity you work your whole life for and to have teammates around you that you still care about…I can still reminisce about some of the good games I had and the good moments. There’s some really, really talented guys there. I know those years set the stage for that to happen.”
Q: What’s the greatest lesson you learned?
Hess: “We’re going to try to ride out the baseball wave and see if there’s any opportunities that I can snatch up or maybe someone will snatch me up. Who knows maybe I’ll be up there saying hi to you in person before too long.”
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.