Hall of Famer Ford Has Cancer

Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford missed spring training with the New York Yankees for the first time in 49 years because he was completing radiation treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.

The 71-year-old former Yankee ace underwent cancer surgery 5 1/2 years ago. He said Friday that his latest cancer was diagnosed in November.

“While the schedule of those treatments kept me from attending spring training in February, I feel great and have resumed my full schedule of commitments and activities,” Ford said in a statement released by the Yankees.

Ford, who had been to spring training as a player, coach or guest every year since 1951, underwent almost eight hours of surgery in December 1994 to remove a cancerous tumor behind one ear. At the time, he said it looked as if the cancer was caught before spreading.

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Strikeout king Nolan Ryan left a Texas hospital, five days after undergoing heart bypass surgery.

“As soon as the physicians gave the OK, he was out of here,” said Shelley Swafford, a spokeswoman for the Heart of Hospital of Austin, Texas, where the Hall of Fame pitcher was recovering.

Ryan, 53, did not have a heart attack, but surgeons performed emergency bypass surgery Sunday after he complained of breathing trouble, tingling in his arms and chest pains.

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Only hours after he officially became owner of the Kansas City Royals, David Glass said that his son, Dan Glass, would be the team’s president, taking over for the departing Michael Herman. . . . Reliever Jerry Dipoto of the Colorado Rockies will have surgery next week to repair a bulging disc below his neck and could be sidelined the rest of the season.