Phillies need to be examined for possible cancer cluster, doc says after David West’s death

david west phillies

David West, shown pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, died of brain cancer at 57.Associated Press

Something might be wrong with the Philadelphia Phillies.

That’s what a doctor at NYU Langone Medical Center says after learning of the death of former MLB pitcher David West.

The Phillies announced West’s death on Saturday. The former New York Mets prospect succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 57.

But here’s the concern: According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, West is the sixth former Phillie to die of brain cancer since 2003, following Ken Brett (2003), Tug McGraw (2004), Johnny Oates (2004), John Vukovich (2007), and Darren Daulton (2017).

On Wednesday, Dr. Marc Siegel told ”Fox & Friends” that an investigation is needed. Per the New York Post:

“It’s a cluster, and it needs to be examined. The amount of incidents of deadly brain cancer are about three out of 100,000. This is three or four times that or more.”

Siegel identified three possible targets for investigation: exposure to radar guns (five of the six who died were pitchers or catchers); Veterans Stadium (all six played at the ballpark, which was imploded in 2004) and the chemicals in AstroTurf, which was used at the Vet, as well as many other stadiums.

“I am not saying that’s what it is — in addition to the AstroTurf, which had a lot of chemicals — they’ve got to look more at that radar gun. It’s a possibility.”

In case you’re wondering about Siegel’s credibility, here’s his bio, per FOX PR:

Marc Siegel, M.D. is a Clinical Professor of Medicine and a practicing internist at NYU Langone Medical Center. He is the medical director of Doctor Radio on SiriusXM. Dr. Siegel has interviewed top experts in the COVID-19 pandemic including the directors of HHS, NIH, CDC, FDA, NIAID and AMA.

Dr. Siegel is the author six books, including most recently, “COVID: The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science,” as well as “False Alarm: the Truth about the Epidemic of Fear,” “Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know about the Next Pandemic,” and “Swine Flu: the New Pandemic,” which was profiled by Publishers Weekly. He has also written columns that have appeared in The Los Angeles Times and The New York Daily News. His first book was the novel, Bellevue.

Dr. Siegel has been at Fox News since 2008 when he was hired as a medical contributor. He has worked for the network as an analyst, and a reporter and writer for FoxNews.com. Notable interviews include President Donald Trump, former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, two Health and Human Services secretaries, U.S. Senators, as well as the first exclusive interview with a survivor of the Boston marathon bombing.

Dr. Siegel traveled to the National Quarantine Unit at Nebraska Medicine in February 2020 to interview the team of scientists and the Diamond Princess passengers who contracted COVID-19, and warned the world about the coming pandemic.

Dr. Siegel is a member of the board of contributors at USA Today. He is a columnist for FoxNews.com, The Hill, and the Wall Street Journal. He wrote a weekly column for the Los Angeles Times for six years, “The Unreal World”, which examined TV and movies for medical accuracy.

Prior to that, he wrote a weekly medical news column for the New York Daily News’ health section.

He graduated from SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and completed his residency training at the New York University Medical Center.

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com.

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