Schilling Says Cancer Was Caused by Smokeless Tobacco

Reveals that he had oral cancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG5MV-wUIk4

We knew that Curt Schilling had battled cancer during the last year. What we didn’t know was what kind and why.

That changed during an interview with a Boston radio station Wednesday: Schilling, a pitcher on the wild 1993 National League champion Phillies, said that he had had oral cancer, probably caused by 30 years of smokeless tobacco use.

MLB.com reports:

“It’s a dangerously addictive habit that I wish I had never done,” Schilling said.

Schilling had a heart attack in 2011 and required surgery to place a stent in one of his arteries, and he told WEEI on Wednesday that he has lost 75 pounds during his bout with cancer.

“I am in remission,” Schilling said. “[However], I don’t have any salivary glands. I can’t taste anything and I can’t smell anything.”

Commissioner Bud Selig said MLB may take up the issue of tobacco use with players during the next round of talks on the collective bargaining agreement.