Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who won 23 games for the Yankees in 1975 and had 17 wins in 1976, but who dropped to a 9-9 record last season, revealed that he is suffering from diabetes. Yankees' physician Dr. Maurice Cowen believes that the condition will not affect Hunter's pitching, especially since, unlike everyday players, pitchers don't play everyday.
Last season was the worst of Hunter's distinguished major league career, one in which he had foot and shoulder injuries and a urological disorder. In the World Series against Los Angeles, Hunter had an 0-1 record with a 10.38 ERA, allowing 5 earned runs in only 4 1/3 innings. Yankees' manager Billy Martin said today that despite Hunter's past accomplishment's, including five consecutive seasons in which he won at least twenty games, the big right hander would have to earn a spot in the starting rotation.
COMMENTS: A number of outstanding major leaguers have suffered from diabetes, including another great Yankees' pitcher from another era named Allie Reynolds. Others include Del Ennis, who was a member of the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids," Ron Santo, the almost Hall of Fame Chicago Cubs' third baseman of the 1960s, and currently active pitcher Jason Johnson. Hunter is a Hall of Famer but the Yankees have not retired his number 29, probably because he only was a Yankee for five season, winning 63 and losing 53.
March 3, 1978: Don Gullett Still a Question Mark.
Don Gullett, who won 14 games for the Yankees last season before suffering a sore shoulder, couldn't work out because of a sore shoulder. It was the third straight day that the pain prevented Gullett from throwing and Yankees' executive vice president Al Rosen announced that Gullett would rest for a few days. Rosen went on to say "There's really no problem; otherwise we'd tell you." Yankees' physician Dr. Maurice Cowens refused to discuss the ailment.
COMMENTS: Don Gullett was the second free agent pitcher the Yankees signed (Catfish was the first), and while both Gullett and Hunter helped, neither approached the hopes that the Yankees had for them. Gullett beat the Yankees in the 1976 World Series as a Cincinnati Red, which made him even more attractive to Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner, but after winning fourteen games for the Yankees in an injury riddled 1977 season, Gullet, unfortunately was no longer a question mark as the sore shoulder and rotator cuff problems led to his premature retirement after the 1978 season.
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