Sports Specialist s w e i V d News an Volume 9 Issue 4 Newsletter July ~ August 2014 Padres Great Tony Gwynn Gone at 54 Years Old IN THIS ISSUE Tony Gwynn Oral Cancer T ony Gwynn broke into Major League Baseball with the San Diego Padres at age 22. Gwynn played 20 years with the Padres, and was retired from the game for 8 years before getting cancer at the age of 50. He battled oral cancer for 4 years before passing away at the age of 54 – a sad end for the MLB Hall of Famer who blamed his cancer on years of using smokeless tobacco, known as dip or chew (see next story). Gwynn was an outstanding all around athlete. He attended San Diego State University and played point guard for the school basketball team after being recruited from high school. He still holds several school records for his time as a basketball player. His college baseball career didn’t even start until his sophomore year!! Gwynn was drafted to both the MLB and the NBA, both to San Diego based teams – the basketball Clippers (10th round, 214th overall) and the baseball Padres (3rd round, 58th overall). Being undersized for the NBA at 5’11”, Gwynn made the decision to try his hand (glove and bat) with the Padres. Gwynn was a monster with the bat. Over his 20 year career, he averaged .338 – the highest average of any player playing after World War II. He only hit less than .300 in one season – his rookie year, and hit .394 in the strike shortened 1994 season, when most feel he had a chance to be the only player since Ted Williams to average .400 or better. To put Gwynn’s batting average (BA) into perspective and to show the elite company he belongs to, the MLB leader in BA is the legendary Ty Cobb, who batted .366 over 24 seasons; Roger Hornsby, averaged .358 and has the highest BA since 1900 when he batted .424 in 1924; Shoeless Joe Jackson batted .356 over 13 seasons before he was permanently suspended from baseball after the Black Sox Scandal of 1921; Babe Ruth, the legendary Yankee Clipper, averaged .342 over his career just behind the Brain Teaser Funny Bone Mental Environmental Nutrition Corner Brain Teaser answers Page 1-3 Page 1 Page 3 Page 3 Page 4 Page 4 The following describe 4 common 3 letter words. Each of these words form the last three letters of common 8 letter words that start with 4 common 5 letter words. What are the 8 letter words? 1. 2. 3. 4. A glass container. A mythical creature. Skin pustules. A type of farm animal. Page 2 July: Oral Cancer Tony Gwynn Dies of Oral Cancer at Age 54 previously mentioned Ted Williams who averaged .344 and just ahead of another Yankee legend, Lou Gehrig at .340. The highest BA among currently active players is the Detroit Tiger’s first baseman Miguel Cabrera at .320. If this were not enough to convince you of Gwynn’s prowess with the bat, a few of his other accomplishments include: Gwynn hit safely 3141 times in his career – 19th all time – the only active players in the top 35 are Derek Jeter at 9th (3387) and Alex Rodriguez at 32 (2939) (Babe Ruth is 42nd on the list at 2873 – Pete Rose leads at 4256); Gwynn never struck out more than 40 times in a season and struck out less than 20 times in six straight years with a career low of 15 – in May of 2014, 97 current major leaguers struck out 20 times – Ryan Howard of the Phillies leads the major leagues with 97 strikeouts in 2014; and Gwynn had 5 seasons where he had more stolen bases than strikeouts. Tony Gwynn was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, receiving 97.61% of the ballots – seventh highest all time at that point – and was a much deserved honour for the man known as Mr. Padre. Tony Gwynn, born in California in 1960, passed away much too soon leaving behind a family and many adoring fans. T ony Gwynn battled salivary gland cancer, specifically of the parotid gland, for 4 years before succumbing to the disease at the age of 54. Gwynn attributed the onset of his cancer to the many years he spent using smokeless tobacco. There have been many studies showing an association between using smokeless tobacco and an increased risk of several cancers including oral, esophageal (the tube from the mouth to the stomach), stomach and pancreatic. and must be ground by the teeth to release the flavour and the nicotine. Dipping tobacco (common brands include Skoal or Copenhagen) also known historically as moist snuff is also placed between the cheek and the gums but isn’t necessarily chewed because it is already ground and the nicotine can be released with the pressure on the dip and absorbed sublingually. Dipping tobacco is a variation of Snus a product that was brought to North According to an article by Boffetta et al in 2008, the use of oral and nasal smokeless tobacco products has been common in many countries around the world for centuries. In Image from: www.earsite.com the US in 2000, 4.4% of men and 0.3% of women America by Swedish immigrants. were users of smokeless tobacco; Snuff is a type of tobacco that is in Sweden in 2004, 20% of men insufflated or “snuffed” through the and 3% of women aged 16-75 used nose. Confusion arises due to the moist snuff daily; and in India in many nicknames given chewing and 1998-99, 28% of men and 12% of dipping tobacco including snuff, dip, pinch and chew. women reported to chew tobacco. Smokeless tobacco has two main types, chewing and dipping but others include snuff, and Snus. Chewing tobacco is unground tobacco that is placed between the cheek and gums Chewing tobacco has been shown to contain several carcinogens, or cancer causing agents, along with several compounds that essentially rough up the oral membranes to August: Oral Cancer Continued Page 3 Gwynn Continued permit greater absorption of the nicotine, as well as the carcinogens. Thus it would seem likely that doctors can predict the area of cancer based on how the person chews and in what part of the mouth. According to an article on foxnews.com, Dr. Misiukiewicz, an assistant professor of medical oncology, has found just that stating, “It’s proof that direct contact matters.” The American Cancer Society reports that 3 out of 4 people who use chewing tobacco have non-cancerous or precancerous lesion in their mouths. The lesions are most often detected by the dentist. The parotid, submandibular and sublingual glands are the main salivary glands located in and around the oral cavity. The parotid gland is a paired gland that lies behind the angle of the jaw and in front of the ear and produces saliva to aid in the breakdown of food specifically those containing starches or sugars. It is the largest of the salivary glands but only produces approximately 25% of the needed saliva. The parotid gland is usually affected in those individuals suffering from the mumps. Although the risks of using smokeless tobacco are evident, the MLB players association still will not ban its use by its players even though the ban has been urged by MLB and the commissioner’s office. Several Major League players have decided to quit following Gwynn’s untimely death and hopefully many more will opt out as well. It seems like only a matter of time before its use is banned similar to smoking tobacco – quite frankly it can’t come soon enough. N egotiations between union members and their employer were at an impasse. The union denied that their workers were flagrantly abusing their contract’s sick-leave provisions. One morning at the bargaining table, the company’s chief negotiator held aloft the morning edition of the newspaper, “This man,” he announced, “called in sick yesterday!” There on the sports page, was a photo of the supposedly ill employee, who had just won a local golf tournament with an excellent score. The silence in the room was broken by a union negotiator. “Wow,” he said. “Just think of what kind of score he could have had if he hadn’t been sick!” Mental Environmental Reducing your Carbon Footprint on your Commute According to Clean Air Commute (from Green Living Online), one fully loaded bus replaces 57 single-occupant cars; one subway or train replaces 1100 to 1500 cars. Transport Canada suggests that the cost of travel per person per kilometer is $0.50 by car and $0.12 by public transit. Nutrition Corner Page 4 Insects may be the Protein Source of the Future the carbon footprint and at the same time providing a much needed source of sustainable food protein. Imagine cooking up a plate of tasty locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, silk moth pupae and beetle and moth larvae instead of the traditional T-bone steak to get your necessary dose of protein. Most would not only dismiss this future outright but also find it disgusting in the meantime!! But this future may not be that far fetched according to Science Daily. The world adds approximately 70 million people per year and if the growth continues at its current rate, the planet will house more than 9 billion people by 2050. Most of the world’s main source of protein is from livestock – but with agricultural land dwindling as the population increases, alternative sources may need to be found. Insects may be that source. According to researchers, insects require less feed, less water, less land and less overall energy – a win/win for the planet - decreasing /\ N / \ / \ \ / York Mills Rd. / / \ \ / Leslie St. Lawrence Ave. Bayview Ave. Yonge St. * Highway 401 Brain 1. 2. 3. 4. jar, add night for nightjar. elf, add yours for yourself. pox, add small for smallpox. hog, add hedge for hedgehog. ANSWER Services Sheppard Ave. E. / \ A group in Toronto has recently applied to the government to produce human grade crickets as a food source. They currently raise crickets as a source of food for animal consumption such as lizards but want to take their enterprise to the human market. Cricket cookies may not be to far off. Chiropractic Acupuncture Massage Therapy Computerized Gait Analysis Orthotic Therapy Shockwave Therapy Graston Technique Soft Tissue Therapy www.sportdoc.biz. Sports Specialist Rehab Centre SERVICE PROVIDER FOR THE CANADIAN SPORT CENTRE ONTARIO 300 York Mills Road, Suite 205, Toronto ON, M2L 2Y5 Phone: 416 385-0110 Fax: 416 385-0541