Dravecky Retires Because of Risks : Baseball: Giants’ left-hander, 33, who rebounded from cancer, learns he may have a new tumor in his pitching arm.

Dave Dravecky of the San Francisco Giants, who made a remarkable comeback from cancer in his pitching arm this year, announced his retirement Monday after learning he may have a new tumor.

The 33-year-old left-hander said he doesn’t want to risk further injury.

Dravecky, calling from his home in Boardman, Ohio, told Giant President and General Manager Al Rosen that doctors are carefully monitoring a new lump in his left arm and have expressed concern that a resumption of his baseball career could further jeopardize his already weakened arm.

“I don’t want to risk it any further,” he said. “Janice and I are very much at peace with this decision. I’ve had a tremendous career, and there’s no way to ever express everything this year meant to me.”

Two bone breaks in the arm in less than two months doomed the pitcher’s hopes to continue an eight-year career that included appearances in the All-Star game in 1983 and the World Series in 1984 with the San Diego Padres.

Dravecky told the Giants he did not wish to speak to reporters Monday. He is working on a book about his experiences, but said his long-term future plans remain undecided.

“I’m deeply grateful to the thousands of fans who lent their prayers and support, to my teammates for their encouragement and to the Giants for everything they’ve done for me and my family,” he said in a prepared statement.

Giant public relations director Matt Fischer said Dravecky told him doctors will conduct a biopsy only if the lump continues growing. He said Dravecky is sorry to retire but that medical opinion made the decision academic.

The pitcher underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from the deltoid muscle near his left shoulder on Oct. 7, 1988, at the Cleveland Clinic, then made what was considered a miraculous recovery to return to the Giants. Unable to lift the arm without help in the days after surgery, he gradually progressed to throwing a football and working out lightly before pitching in the minors last July.

In a triumphant return to the Giants and Candlestick Park on Aug. 10, he pitched a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Five days later, while making a pitch to the Expos’ Tim Raines in Montreal, he broke the humerus bone in his arm and was lost for the season. He got credit for that victory, finishing the year 2-0 to improve his major league record to 64-57.

Dravecky fractured the same bone in a freak on-field accident Oct. 9 when another player ran into him during the Giants’ celebration of the National League pennant. He said in an interview two days later that he still planned to come back and pitch next spring.

“Like we said all along, I can’t determine what’s going to happen over the next two or three months,” he said. “When the healing process is over, we’ll go from there.”

Doctors warned Dravecky last year he was risking a fracture if he tried to pitch within two years, since the surgical procedure to remove cancer cells also killed the healthy cells that give the bone strength.

Dr. George Muschler, Dravecky’s cancer surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, said in August that it is possible the fracture could speed a recurrence of the cancer, since any tumor cells would be stimulated by it. He said the form of cancer--aggressive fibromatosis--recurs in 30% to 70% of patients.

Telephone calls to Muschler and Dr. John Bergfeld, an orthopedic surgeon at the clinic who also treated Dravecky, went unanswered Monday night. Dr. Gordon Campbell of the Palo Alto Clinic’s Department of Sports Medicine, who also worked on Dravecky’s rehabilitation, is out of the country on sabbatical and has not seen Dravecky since last month, said Helen Lamothe, a nurse for Campbell.

Rosen did not immediately return a reporter’s phone call.

Dravecky pitched for the Padres from 1982 until 1987, compiling a career-best 14-10 record with a 3.58 earned-run average in his first full season in 1983. He pitched two scoreless innings in the All-Star game that summer. Dravecky also was 13-11 for San Diego in 1985.

He was traded to the Giants on July 4, 1987, along with Kevin Mitchell and Craig Lefferts for Chris Brown, Keith Comstock, Mark Davis and Mark Grant, and won seven games down the stretch as the Giants won the National League West title. He pitched a two-hit shutout at St. Louis in the second game of the NL playoffs and lost, 1-0, in Game 6, allowing the only run he gave up in 25 2/3 innings of postseason action.

He was again impressive on opening day of the 1988 season, pitching a three-hit victory against the eventual World Series champion Dodgers. But a partially detached biceps tendon limited him to seven appearances for the season, and a malignant tumor was discovered in the arm in September.