| 07 May 2010
Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is joining forces with Ask.com to help out Susan G. Komen in the fight against breast cancer. Please take a few seconds and go to www.ask.com/forthecure. For every person that joins the "Answers For the Cure" program, Ask will contribute $0.10 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Fro was very excited to talk to the former Padre about his current partnership with this great cause. Of course we also talk about all things Padres.....and even throw in some RJ stories too.
RJ's Fro: I'd like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to us. Being a site that holds the history of the Padres near and dear to it's heart, this truly is an honor speaking with you. Now this is an amazing cause that you are supporting and I applaud you for taking action. Tell me why this is so important to you?
Dave Winfield: Well, most importantly, breast cancer has directly impacted me, having seen what my mom had gone through. And through the years, I've known so many other people -- mostly women but men as well -- this disease has affected.
RJ's Fro: Much like yourself, breast cancer has affected my family. Thankfully my mom caught it in time and has now been cancer free for almost 2 years now. So tell us all about the Ask.com"Answers for the Cure" program?
Dave Winfield: First of all, I'm very happy your mother is doing well. Ask is a very powerful user-friendly search engine. Besides the wealth of information available and resources you will find on breast cancer, just by joining the program with a click, Ask will contribute to Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help fund life-saving research, education, screening services and community outreach projects.
RJ's Fro: According to the Susan G Komen website, there was over 190,000 new cases of breast cancer in 2009 alone. What advice can you give to the masses to help prevent something like this from happening to them?
Dave Winfield: I don't know that we can prevent this from happening at the moment, but what we can all do is be vigilant with out health and as soon as we notice something might not be right, have it checked out. A lot of people are of the mind set "I don't want to know" -- but you do want to know and as soon as possible. To put it in sports terms, the best defense is a good offense.
RJ's Fro: Every Mother's Day MLB teams up with Susan G Komen and gets the players to use pink bats or wear pink wristbands to "Go to Bat Against Breast Cancer". I've read and heard that the "Old School" players would have never used something that was pink. I cry foul on this because I think deep down everyone has a little "Momma's Boy" in them and they would have participated. Having played in that era, what do you think?
Dave Winfield: You mean real men don't wear pink? Since this disease has crossed gender lines, I am fairly comfortable adapting the color that would bring attention to this issue. I would like to think most men have evolved regarding such a silly stigma. One of the most high-profile cases of male breast cancer is Richard Roundtree -- who is more macho than Shaft?
RJ's Fro: With one month of the season in the books, in your opinion what are some of the strengths of this young Padres team and what are some things you think need to be improved upon if they expect to compete all season long?
RJ's Fro: Being a Padre fan isn't easy. Everyone knows of the dreaded "East Coast Bias" that is played out in the media. Teams like the Yankees, Red Sox & Cubs get tons of coverage while the Padres barely make the bottom ticker on Sports Center. Having played for both the Padres & Yankees tell me some of the differences you noticed between the 2 teams coverage, if you think it's fair and also some of the things you think can help change that.
RJ's Fro: Having been drafted by the Padres (MLB), the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) & the Minnesota Vikings (NFL), was there ever a moment in time where you were leaning towards choosing to play for the Hawks or Vikings?
RJ's Fro: One last question.....having been a teammate of Randy Jones (1973-1980) and being that this site is named RJ's Fro, do you have any great RJ stories to share with us?
Dave Winfield: Randy is the perfect example of adversity not getting him down. He'd lost 20 games the year before and he made some minor changes in the velocity of his primary pitch (his sinker), so that it was slower than any pitchers main pitch I'd seen, and it helped him win 20+ games and the Cy Young Award. Persistence, determination and quiet confidence that was Randy Jones. Another example is that he was so tough on baseball's all time hit leader, Pete Rose, that Pete turned around in the batters box; he tried to hit left handed off of Randy, because he was tough on him as a right hander. So, Randy proceeded to strike Pete out by throwing him the curveball. I'd not seen anyone do that to a great hitter before. The scene was quite unusual.
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