Stem Cell Donor Found for Monbouquette
Local Baseball Hero Suffering from Leukemia
Bill Monbouquette is pictured at right speaking to youth participating in Medford High School Baseball Coach Nick Tucci’s summer camp last month at a field named in Monbouquette’s honor at Playstead Park.
Medford native and baseball legend Bill Monbouquette, recently diagnosed with leukemia, has found a potential donor as a result of a bone marrow donation drive organized by former Red Sox teammate Jerry Moses in June at Tufts University.
He is scheduled for a stem cell transplant in September. Monbouquette is hopeful for the procedure and continues to urge people to take a simple donor match test in an effort to find a match for the 6,000 people in need of the life-saving procedure.
Monbouquette, 71, was honored on Wednesday by the State Legislature with a special resolution for his efforts in promoting bone marrow donations. His comments follow below, courtesy of the State House News Service:
Never in my life did I think I would be here for something like this. I retired three years ago after spending 50 years in baseball. And as a kid… I dreamt of being a big-leaguer. It happened, and it’s the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me.
I have a little story. Because 46 years ago Aug. 1 I pitched a no-hitter. I was struggling a little bit, had lost about seven or eight games in a row, and it was in Chicago, Aug. 1. You know how many people say they saw this game? Oh, I was at Fenway. I hate like hell to tell them it was in Chicago. I was facing Early Wynn, Hall of Famer, tough guy. For seven innings, it was nothing-to-nothing. Top of the 8th, we scored, bang-bang play at home plate. Bill McKinley was the umpire, jumping around, and I thought the guy was out, he called him safe. One-two-three bottom of the eighth, we went one-two-three in the top. Bottom of the ninth, Nellie Fox grounded to third, Sherm Lollar struck out, and on Luis Aparicio, another Hall of Famer got two quick strikes. I threw him a slider off the plate, and McKinley said he checked his swing. As I was getting the ball back, I heard someone say, “They shot the wrong McKinley!”
Naturally, I had to step off. The next pitch I threw another slider and he swung and he missed. Let me tell you something, white guys can jump, because I was about that high!
I had the pleasure of meeting Dwight D. Eisenhower, president, in Washington one night. I shut the Senators out and they took me over to the president and introduced me. The guy that introduced me said, “Monbouquette, are you from France?” I said, “No.” He said, “Quebec?” I said, “No.” “Where are you from?” He said. I said, “I’m from Meffah.” And he said, “Where the hell is Meffah?” I said, “It’s right outside of Boston.” He said, “Oh, that’s the way you guys talk.”
I had the pleasure of meeting John Glenn, introduced by my teammate Ted Williams. Ted said “I want you to meet a guy that’s going to the moon.” Well, we took a look around at each other and I said, “What the hell is he smoking?” This is probably close to 50 years ago. I had the pleasure of meeting Glenn again when they had the ceremonial dedication for Ted at Fenway. I asked what kind of a pilot was he? He said, “Ted was the greatest pilot he ever saw. When he crashed that jet in Korea, you ought to see him run.” I said, “He never ran down any balls for me, he clogged up the bases.” He said, “When he came out of that plane, he was flying, baby!”
Last November, I was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, AML, it’s called, probably the worst of the leukemias to have. I have was taking an anemia shot, and all of a sudden it stopped working and they took a blood test. They knew right away. But when you’re over at Dana-Farber, you see young kids. My wife and I were at the elevator and a woman had an 18-month baby in a carriage with a blanket over the carriage and when the elevator door opened, the woman said, “Do you mind if I go down by myself?” We said, “No.” She got on, down she went. Another woman said, “You know why?” We said, “No.” She said, “This baby has cancer. Sometimes you say, is somebody up there.”
Well, he is. So I got interested in all this. We had a blood drive over at Tufts in June, and so many people are not aware of the procedure to have a donor test. Two swabs on both sides inside your mouth, and that’s it. If there is a chance there could be a match, then they want to take some of your blood. Not so many people are aware when you talk about bone marrow, they think, oh they’re going to take mine out, put his in. That’s not what I’m going through.
We ran this not just for me, but it was for anyone, and we did get one donor, one match. I have a 10-12 match. It’s not the perfect match. The doctors are confident, and I’m putting my trust in them, because if I don’t trust my doctors, it’s like if you don’t trust the guys you’re playing with. So, Sept. 2, I am going to get a stem-cell transplant. That’s the other person’s blood. There are 12 elements in the blood, mine has 10, and the doctors feel this is a good match. So you put your hands and trust in your doctor.
So I say to you today, try, get the word out that it’s not that tough to go and get the swabs. Because all you have to do is go over to the Dana Farber or the Children’s and it really puts things into perspective. When I was playing, I’d see guys moping around about not getting a hit in eight times. I’d say, we ought to go to breakfast tomorrow, and I’d take them over there and we’d go upstairs, and I’d say you didn’t lose your wife or your mother or father, you’re going to play today and probably get two hits. Don’t let me see you with your head down again.
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