Swine flu should concern baseball

Saturday, July 25, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry

Vicente Padilla has swine flu, and other Rangers may be diagnosed with the same illness -- but so far, none of the cases are thought to be serious.

However, the problem is very serious. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is predicting 40 percent of the people in the U.S. could get the swine flu, The Associated Press reports.

A Padres minor league affiliate postponed a road trip because of an outbreak of the flu within the team. Seven Rangers have been ailing with flu-like symptoms, and there have been games for which manager Ron Washington has been unsure about how many healthy bodies he would have to field a team. For one game, David Murphy was too sick to play the outfield, but he indicated he could serve as a designated hitter.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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