Sunday, August 03

HOUSTON -- Cancer didn’t know what it was in for when it picked a fight with Phil Garner. 

The man, after all, is nicknamed “Scrap Iron,” which is a testament to his hard-nosed style of play during a 16-year career with the A’s, Pirates, Astros, Dodgers and Giants -- and to the same vim and vigor he later carried into his managerial career.

Garner is tough as boot leather, so it should be no surprise he’s battled cancer for the past 15 months with tenacity. Garner was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2024 and has undergone numerous radiation and chemotherapy treatments. He’ll begin another chemo treatment on Thursday, but not before he celebrates his 76th birthday on Wednesday at Daikin Park.

Garner will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the series finale against the Tigers, one of three teams he managed. Several of his former teammates and former players will be in attendance. So will his wife, Carol, their children and their grandchildren -- all six of them.

“It’s fun for them because my grandkids, they haven’t been able to experience baseball like my children did, being on the field and being in the mix of the excitement as baseball kids,” he said. “I’ll take the grandkids down on the field and let them see it from that perspective. That’s what’s really fun for me. As you know, when you get old it’s all about grandkids. It’s having fun with them and enjoying watching them grow up.”

When it comes to health, Garner says he’s in a “good spot” right now. He’s been receiving treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, went through a trial treatment at Baylor College of Medicine oncology and is also currently debating other treatments. He said the cancer is “resting.”

“I’ll be able to go enjoy a day at the ballpark without chemo,” he said. “Then I’ll have to start chemo again on Thursday. I don’t know how long I’m going to do it. The tumor is not growing, which is a good thing. We’ve got to keep the cancer cells that are floating in the blood system and all around, we’ve got to keep them from finding a place to attack, so that’s why we did the ongoing chemo treatment. Let’s just hope it stays where it is. I’ve got a lot of friends that are praying for me.”

Those friends include Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who befriended Garner when Hinch was hired by the Astros to be manager in 2015. They’ve become golf partners and confidants and live close to each in the Houston area.

“He means so much to so many people,” Hinch said. “As he has gone through the things in life that he has, he’s always put other people in front of him. It’s good to be able to share a day that’s about him.”

Those friends also include Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell. Garner was on the coaching staff when Bagwell made his debut in 1991 and found out quickly the right way to play the game. Garner was also Bagwell’s last big league manager with the Astros in 2005.

“He’s just the ultimate competitor,” Bagwell said. “As a manager, too. He was competitive. He was honest. He told you the truth. He made you accountable -- all the great things that leaders do. I think Gar just did a tremendous job of that. You could see how much he cared about his players, cared about winning and our organization. It was just a pleasure to play for him and be his friend.”

And those friends include former Astros second baseman Bill Doran, who respected how hard Garner competed while they were teammates in Houston in the 1980s.

“Every young kid, you come up and you need somebody to look up to and Phil was that guy for me,” Doran said. “His personality, he could come in and light up the clubhouse. How he treated people, just the kind of teammate he was, I really looked up to Gar.”

Battling cancer hasn’t been easy on Garner and his family, but he knows there are always people who have it worse. He said a friend who was diagnosed with the same disease a few weeks before him recently passed away. Garner’s fight continues, though, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.

“It’s a tough deal,” he said. “You certainly enjoy the moments that you’re able to have with your family and friends and not be sick. You enjoy those a little more.”

Jose Altuve asked manager Joe Espada to move him to the second spot in the lineup after hitting leadoff all season. Altuve was in the No. 2 slot for Monday's 8-5 win against the Tigers and went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including driving in leadoff hitter Jeremy Peña with a go-ahead, two-run home run in the sixth inning.

May 1, 1969 -- Astros right-hander Don Wilson pitched a no-hitter in a 4-0 win over the Reds at Crosley Field, one day after Cincinnati’s Jim Maloney tossed a no-hitter against the Astros in a 10-0 win.

Nine days before no-hitting the Reds, Wilson was rocked for seven runs in five innings in a 14-0 loss to Cincinnati in the Astrodome. The Astros took exception to Reds pitcher Clay Carroll throwing a 3-2 curveball for a strikeout in the ninth, and Wilson called the Reds clubhouse and told catcher Johnny Bench he was going to hit him in the head the next time he faced him.

During his no-hitter nine days later, Wilson hit Bench with a pitch in the fifth that glanced off his shoulder and struck him in the head. Bob Watson, who was on the bench that night, said that when Bench got to first base, he was asked by Astros first baseman Curt Blefary why he didn’t charge the mound. “He said, ‘I’ll take him deep sometime during this game,’” Watson recalled of the conversation between Bench and Blefary. “That was the last baserunner.”

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