BOSTON (AP) – Cleveland manager Terry Francona didn’t hesitate when he was on the phone with Red Sox manager John Farrell and heard when his longtime friend was going to start chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma. Francona knew he wanted to be there.
“We were just talking and I was asking questions, the normal questions, and he mentioned he was going to start Tuesday,” Francona said Monday before the Indians opened a three-game series at Boston.
“I was like, man, I’m right there,” he said. “I’ll met you there or go there, whatever. I may not do anything but get in the way like normal, but being a friend, the only thing I know how to do is be a friend. We all don’t know exactly how to handle this, but I do know how to be a friend and I care a lot.”
Farrell announced last Friday that he has a “highly curable” form of cancer and is taking a medical leave for the rest of the season.
“I was stunned,” Francona said. “The first reaction was: I knew people would want to get at him. I wanted to talk to him. In this game you run into so many good people and friends. We became friends not just in baseball but outside of baseball.”