Lester's age not a factor
Patrick Stone
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Sports
Most 23 year olds are having the times of their lives polishing up their final years of college or just venturing into that terrifying vortex everyone's been calling "The Real World" since they were old enough to walk.
Most 23 year olds don't have to go see a specialist every six months to make sure the cancer that made its residence in their lymph nodes hasn't called for an encore performance. Then again, most 23 year olds aren't winning World-Series-clinching games. So Jon Lester isn't like most 23 year olds.
While it seemed like the rest of the country (not to mention the ever-growing small continent that is Red Sox Nation) was fixated on Jonathan Papelbon's dance selection during Boston's rolling rally. The lost story in one of the most dominant stretches in playoff history was the one staring everybody right in the face.
A little more than a year removed from his first ever postseason start, coveted Red Sox prospect Jon Lester found himself in an odd spot. A lefty starter with gas, poise and that absurd confidence all Sox prospects seem to have now, Lester was in line to become the American League's "Next Big Thing." Boy Wonder Theo Epstein thought so highly of his second-round southpaw, he awarded him with one million dollars worth of a signing bonus, more than anybody else taken in that round. When trade rumors circulated about the Red Sox swapping Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez in 2004, the Rangers demanded Lester. No deal. Ditto in 2006 when the Marlins initially approached the Sox in a deal that eventually landed Josh Beckett in the Hub.
Yet still, Lester wasn't right. A car crash had left his back feeling like a 90-year-old man, aching and easily tired. As it would turn out, that crash had just added insult to a glaring injury. On Sept. 1, 2006, Lester was diagnosed with a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. No reason why an athletic, then 22 year old could inhabit such a terrible sounding disease. No warning. It just happened.
Most 23 year olds don't have to go see a specialist every six months to make sure the cancer that made its residence in their lymph nodes hasn't called for an encore performance. Then again, most 23 year olds aren't winning World-Series-clinching games. So Jon Lester isn't like most 23 year olds.
While it seemed like the rest of the country (not to mention the ever-growing small continent that is Red Sox Nation) was fixated on Jonathan Papelbon's dance selection during Boston's rolling rally. The lost story in one of the most dominant stretches in playoff history was the one staring everybody right in the face.
A little more than a year removed from his first ever postseason start, coveted Red Sox prospect Jon Lester found himself in an odd spot. A lefty starter with gas, poise and that absurd confidence all Sox prospects seem to have now, Lester was in line to become the American League's "Next Big Thing." Boy Wonder Theo Epstein thought so highly of his second-round southpaw, he awarded him with one million dollars worth of a signing bonus, more than anybody else taken in that round. When trade rumors circulated about the Red Sox swapping Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez in 2004, the Rangers demanded Lester. No deal. Ditto in 2006 when the Marlins initially approached the Sox in a deal that eventually landed Josh Beckett in the Hub.
Yet still, Lester wasn't right. A car crash had left his back feeling like a 90-year-old man, aching and easily tired. As it would turn out, that crash had just added insult to a glaring injury. On Sept. 1, 2006, Lester was diagnosed with a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. No reason why an athletic, then 22 year old could inhabit such a terrible sounding disease. No warning. It just happened.
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