Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Poole was diagnosed with ALS last year.
He can’t grip a baseball due to the disease and he even had to flip one underhand while a high school team was practicing.
“It went about 12 feet forward and almost all to the right,” Poole said. “It was really weird. Let’s just say the kid looked at me and never would have believed I had ever earned a living playing baseball.”
Per Dan Connolly of The Athletic, that’s what Poole knew something was off. This past June, he was officially diagnosed with the sickness that’s otherwise known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”
Poole played 11 seasons in the MLB for numerous teams, four of which came with the Orioles. He was the last member of the team to record a win at Memorial Stadium.
Sad story about former #SFGiants reliever Jim Poole, now dealing with ALS. He was a great guy to cover. https://t.co/WPmLCyKlbC (Subscription).
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) March 13, 2022
His best year as an Oriole came in 1991 when he had an ERA of 2 while having an HR9 (home runs per nine innings) rate of 0.8.
He ended up retiring from the MLB following the 2000 season when he spent time with Detroit and Montreal.
Our best wishes go out to Poole as he fights this disease.
The post Former MLB Pitcher Diagnosed With ALS At 55 appeared first on The Spun.