I know that many of you are regular readers of FanGraphs, so you might have already seen the news that Dave Cameron has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I've never had the pleasure of meeting Dave in person, but he's an outstanding writer both at FanGraphs and on U.S.S. Mariner, and it was particularly shocking news to read this morning.
Dave wrote about his diagnosis and the upcoming treatment on FanGraphs, and even that scary announcement was written with the eloquence we've come to know from him. He's suggested that if you can, go donate blood or platelets to the Red Cross, as supplies are critically low.
Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Ball wrote an article on Baseball Nation a few weeks ago about the Country of Baseball that exists on the Internet thanks to the network of baseball blogs and the community of Twitter, and he's right. I know a hundred baseball guys that I've never met, and Dave is one of them. He's one of our own, and that makes the news a bit more sobering than it might be otherwise.
We spend a lot of time complaining about the Orioles (and rightly so) and investing more time and emotion into them than they deserve, but then something like this happens and it makes me realize how well things are going for me when the thing that often bothers me the most is a crappy baseball team. Everyone should have such problems.
My thoughts are with Dave and his family as they go through this difficult time. And for goodness sake, Mariners, win a game for the guy why don't you.