Ron Gardenhire Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, Expected to Be Back in 2017

By Fansided and Jackson Bruce/FanSided via Call to the Pen
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Ron Gardenhire, a respected figure in the baseball community, hopes to make a speedy recovery following his prostate cancer diagnosis.

Former Minnesota Twins manager and current Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach Ron Gardenhire has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Gardenhire said the cancer was caught during a required physical and was detected early. He also said it would be the only time he would talk about it this spring.

A bump in the road, but he is expected to recover.

He said he received the diagnosis about a week ago and will have surgery to remove the prostate gland in April. Doctors say the surgery will leave him cancer-free. Gardenhire credits the required physicals done by Major League Baseball every year to the doctors finding the cancer as soon as they did, as there was no sign of the disease during an exam he had in January.

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    Gardenhire was hired by the Diamondbacks as part of big changes to the coaching staff in 2017. He is the top assistant to Torey Lovullo, their new manager. Lovullo has experience with cancer diagnosis on a coaching staff before. He was the interim manager for the Boston Red Sox during John Farrell’s fight with cancer in 2015. There is no replacement for Gardenhire at this time.

    Gardenhire is best known for his time as the manager for the Twins, where he managed 13 seasons, winning six division titles. He was fired after the 2014 season and replaced by current manager Paul Molitor. Last season, he was special assistant to Twins General Manager Terry Ryan before leaving for Arizona this offseason.

    Physicals are doing their job.

    Gardenhire is a well respected member of the baseball community and will have lots of help and support from the people around him. Other prostate cancer survivors in the Diamondbacks organization include owner Ken Kendrick and president and CEO Derrick Hall.

    Hopefully all goes well and Gardenhire makes a speedy recovery and his road goes as expected. It is incredible how often Major League Baseball or team physicals catch life-threatening conditions. It is terrible to see people diagnosed with such conditions, but the physicals are doing their part and that is something positive to take away from anything like this.