Just heard about this on ESPN.com 
Kirk Gibson Has Parkinson's Disease
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
- Start date
That sucks. My grandfather suffered from Parkinson's. It was an awful thing to watch.
Sad to hear. Wish him well
That's a shame. I still get teary-eyed when I watch his walk-off home run from the '88 World Series. Probably the most memorable sporting event of my childhood, as I'm a huge Dodgers fan. I wish him and his family the best.
Why do you say that?
^ I'm curious about that as well.
Read.
The way I see it, anyone who tells other people to intentionally hurt other people while playing a fucking game is a dipshit asshole.
I grew up in the Detroit area during Gibson's career with the Tigers and I have to say that even though he was loved as a player and tough as nails on the field, he did have a pretty well known reputation for being a real jerk.
One story that was fairy well known was that after spring training he'd often come out of the stadium on crutches to avoid having to sign autographs because there was no separate parking lot for the players.
I never saw it myself but I had no problem as a kid getting Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Jack Morris and Lance Parish among others to sign baseballs. I never asked Gibson because it was understood at best he'd blow right past you and if you caught him at the wrong you might get an phrase with an F bomb in it thrown at you.
Before he managed the Diamondbacks he had a radio show I'm Detroit and even he made reference from time to time that he could have been a lot nicer to the fans then he was.
I'm not saying this to bash the guy. I'm just saying there was some merit for people thinking he was an a hole. It is what it is.
At any rate I'm sorry he has Parkinson's and I hope he can combat the disease and live a happy life.
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