Return to work puts smile on Sutcliffe

The bounce in his step isn’t quite what it used to be, but his smile assures everyone that Rick Sutcliffe is doing fine.
Sutcliffe, the Van Horn High School graduate and former Cy Young Award winner, was back in the ESPN broadcast booth at Yankee Stadium this past week.
And he loved every minute of it.
Who wouldn’t?
He was working the All-Star Game in the final season of the most famous stadium in all of sports.
“Man, I can’t even tell you how exciting it was,” Sutcliffe said as he and his friend, Rick Taylor, and Taylor’s sons, Ross and Mowgs, sat in a private room at Tim’s Pizza.
“There were a couple of tense bathroom moments, which I won’t go into detail – because the game went 15 innings – but other than that, it was great.”
Sutcliffe has stunned his medical team and the world of professional baseball by the way he has stormed back following a seven-hour operation to remove a cancerous portion of his colon.
“I didn’t know this until I saw my doctor a week ago Thursday, but she hadn’t cleared me to go to the All-Star Game,” Sutcliffe said. “I went into the office and the nurse was all smiles, and I was wondering what was going on.
“Then she told me I was cleared to go the game. Cleared? Man, I’d already made the commitment. Guess it’s a good thing they cleared me.”
Because of his condition, there was a back-up plan.
“Mark Grace (his former teammate and All-Star first baseman with the Cubs) was going to work the game if I couldn’t,” he said. “Gracie had my back – but there was no way I was missing the All-Star Game. Especially the last All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium.”
Sutcliffe enjoyed a whirlwind week that included a party thrown by Yankees All-Star Derek Jeter and an appearance on the nationally syndicated Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio.
“I was on the radio about 10 minutes,” Sutcliffe said. “They were raising money for cancer awareness through the Jimmy V Foundation (formed by the late North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died from cancer).
“A guy calls and said, ‘I was listening to you on the radio and I called my doctor to schedule a colonoscopy.’ Man, that blew me away. Then he said he was sending in a check. You hear stuff like that and it just makes you realize there is a reason for everything.
“I don’t know why I got cancer. But I know I’m going to spread the word to everyone who will listen.”
Sutcliffe’s message has already spread throughout the country.
I have passed along hundreds of e-mail messages and cards from folks who have a similar story.
“So many guys have just come up to me and said, ‘I got a colonoscopy because of you.’ I can’t begin to tell you what that means to me.”
Sutcliffe continues to fight the good fight.
He made such an impact on Eastern Jackson County as a star three-sport athlete at Van Horn High School. He then became an icon in Chicago with the Cubs. Rick Taylor says, “He owns the city. He can’t got anywhere without being mobbed. And I’m talking about today – they still love him.”
But those efforts pale in comparison to the impact he’s making now.
B.C. (before cancer), he was a sports personality with a bigger-than-life approach to the game that made him a hit with everyone from the gang at Tim’s to the Hollywood elite.
A.C. (after cancer), he is a man on a mission.
A mission that is in its infancy, but one that is growing each and every day.