Wait... while not shocking (it was the 70s) - is this confirmed? I feel very out to lunch on this: is the stroke tied to his drug usage? I've never heard that.
Cocaine would have made any slight pre-existing condition much more volatile. Young men, especially athletes, don't typically get those sorts of ischemic events randomly... I also thought he had mentioned that he had drug problems prior to the incident.
From his mouth: [rquoter]RK: There were a lot of ugly rumors about you leading up to the time when you had the stroke... JR: There's always going to be rumors. There was one thing out that it was drug-induced, but a hematologist checked my blood and the stroke was caused by a simple blood clot in my shoulder. I was such a powerful pitcher that the muscles in my right shoulder had overdeveloped and it was pressing a blood vessel against my [inaudible]. Everytime I would throw it would cause an irritation and it began blockage. But I kind of still blame it on the doctors because when they send the ballplayers in to take a medical it ain't about crap. They go in there and say "Are you hurting anywhere?". You say "no" and they check you off to keep on going. RK: A lot of players in the Eighties were involved with drugs. Did you experiment with cocaine during the time leading up to the stroke? JR: No, I did not. But when people can't find nothing on you, they begin to come up with something to condemn you.[/rquoter] http://www.astrosdaily.com/players/interviews/Richard_JR.html Here is an article indicating that he did use, even by his own admission: [rquoter]It was speculated that cocaine use might have led to the stroke, especially after former teammate Enos Cabell testified at the 1985 cocaine-trafficking trial of Philadelphia caterer Curtis Strong that he and Richard had used cocaine regularly during the 1980 season. "No way," Fields said. "There's no way in the world that had anything to do with it." Richard allows that, "I was into a few drugs, but I got out of them." However, a close friend, who asked not to be identified, said that Richard had a "chemical (abuse) problem" and that the problem has continued into the 1980s. But Carolyn, his former wife, said Richard "never did anything like that around me because he knew not to. I never knew anything about any drugs until it hit the newspapers. "He used to come home plastered occasionally, but it wasn't often enough to be concerned about it."[/rquoter] http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-29/sports/sp-15_1_richard-button/2
Yeah, Cabell had a lot of reasons not to perjure himself, and no reason to just make something up about another player.
