Dravecky Will Start for Giants Today at Candlestick

Only a few months ago, Dave Dravecky could not lift his pitching arm without help.

Today, he culminates an extraordinary comeback from cancer by returning to the major leagues 10 months after having a tumor removed from his left arm. Dravecky will face the Cincinnati Reds at Candlestick Park.

“It’s a miracle,” said Larry Brown, a Palo Alto physical therapist who worked with the San Francisco Giant pitcher for four months. “He’s fantastic, and he’s got more drive than anybody I know.”

Dravecky, 33, has surprised doctors not only by the speed of his return but by the fact he has come back at all. Last October, Dravecky was told on the operating table in Ohio that he had no chance of pitching in the major leagues again.

“To see him on the mound will be a miracle,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said. “And I don’t think the score matters so much.”

One of Dravecky’s biggest fans, long-time friend and former San Diego Padre teammate Terry Kennedy, will be catching today.

“Of all the people I’ve met in baseball, from the very beginning, Dave is the one I admire most,” Kennedy said.

“I had a daydream that he pitched the game that we clinched. Wouldn’t that be something?”