Terry Francona will join good friend John Farrell at his first chemotherapy session
John Farrell and Terry Francona know each other very well. They’ve played together, coached together and now Francona is standing next to Farrell as he takes his first step toward beating cancer.
The two of them played for the Cleveland Indians in 1988, Farrell pitching and Francona playing first, left field and DH. When Francona was the manager of the Boston Red Sox, he hired Farrell as his pitching coach. With Francona managing the Indians, Farrell got the Red Sox skipper job in 2013. The two of them coached in the 2014 All-Star game together. When Farrell was picked to manage the MLB team for last year’s Japan Series, he asked Francona to join him.
Now comes something much bigger than baseball.
Farrell announced Friday that he’d been diagnosed with stage 1 lymphoma and he’d be stepping aside as Boston Red Sox manager for the rest of the season to fight it. His first chemotherapy session is Tuesday and, with the help of an MLB schedule that has the Indians in Boston, Francona will be accompanying his buddy.
From NESN’s Tom Caron:
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With the Red Sox hosting the Indians for three games starting Monday, Farrell and Francona might have been hanging out this week anyway. Circumstances just changed the scenery. But Francona said Friday that cancer would be no match for his friend. From Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com:
“I have no doubt that he will beat the hell out of this … probably with one hand tied behind his back,” said Francona. “He’s so upbeat and he’s such a tough guy. And he has so many people who care about him. I honestly feel like he will come through this with flying colors.”
We’re sure Francona will remind Farrell of this too. It’s what a good manager would do and, more importantly, what a good friend would do.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
