Belinda May Have Multiple Sclerosis

Test results should tell next week whether Cincinnati Red reliever Stan Belinda has multiple sclerosis, the team’s doctor said Wednesday night.

Belinda was on the disabled list in the first half of the season when he started feeling numbness in his leg. Tests found inflammation in the spinal cord but indicated there was only a slight chance he had multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease of the nervous system.

He came off the disabled list on July 8 and appeared in 14 games, but began experiencing more numbness. The Reds sent him for a spinal tap, more blood tests and MRI tests on Monday.

“At this point, the tests that have come back have been inconclusive,” Dr. Timothy Kremchek said. “At this point, we still do not believe that he has multiple sclerosis, but we are doing every test that we possibly can to rule that out.

“Most of those tests won’t be back until the middle of next week, so the decision on what’s going to happen to him for the rest of the season is still kind of up in the air.”

Belinda was not in the clubhouse before a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Kremchek briefed reporters after returning from Birmingham, Ala., where he helped Dr. James Andrews operate on minor league pitcher Jesus Martinez.

Martinez, the brother of Pedro and Ramon Martinez, had a slight tear in the rotator cuff and a frayed labrum. Kremchek said he should be fully recovered by spring training.

*

Ernie Banks remembers looking around the park before his first game at Wrigley Field. Nervous and a bit in awe on that fall day in 1953, Banks heard a voice that would become as familiar as any in his life.

“Ernie, how are you? You’ll be fine. Just go out and play,” Banks recalled Jack Brickhouse telling him.

Banks, the Hall of Fame shortstop, was one of eight men who eulogized Brickhouse, the Hall of Fame broadcaster, who died last week.

“It was not his broadcasting, it was his feel for people,” Banks said. “He was like a brother, like a lawyer, like a judge. He was always there for you. He didn’t give a lot of advice but he did share.”

Those who spoke at St. James Episcopal Church on Chicago’s North Side remembered the former Cub announcer with stories, humor and reverence. A picture of Brickhouse smiled over the gathering of hundreds. The words he made a trademark--”Hey! Hey!”--were spelled out nearby in a red and white bouquet.

“If the Cubs keep doing well we’ll probably be able to listen and hear him say, ‘Hey Hey, we did it,’ ” Banks said.

Brickhouse died of cardiac arrest Thursday at age 82. In March, doctors removed a tumor from Brickhouse and found no other cancer. On June 30, he returned to the Cubs’ broadcast booth to shout “Hey! Hey!” one last time.

*

The Philadelphia Phillies have extended the contract of Manager Terry Francona through 2000, the team announced. The Phillies also extended the contracts of Francona’s entire coaching staff through 1999.