Kirk Gibson wasn't always a sympathetic figure when he played for the Tigers.
He was a feisty player, a warrior who wasn't known particularly as a sweet guy. When he did well, fans loved him. When he didn't, they were far less loving.
Now he's in a much more vulnerable spot and is a father r more sympathetic figure, battling Parkinson's Disease, a neurological condition affecting motor skills and speech.
He returned Wednesday to the Tigers broadcast booth for Fox Sports Detroit for the first time since his hiatus following an announcement on April 28 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's.
"You just pay attention to what it is and how you deal with it," Gibson tells Anthony Fenech of the Free Press.
The Freep reports that he's dealing with it all rather well, with a lot of speech and voice therapy, education on the disease and its symptoms. and, most importantly, baseball.
"It's the people," he said. "Being around the people, the fans, they're incredible and highly supportive of me. The Tigers have been great, the people, the fans, Fox, my family and I've had so many people reach out to me that it really makes me feel good. I'm eternally grateful."
Looking back, Gibson, 58, could see the signs of Parkinson's for some time, but didn't quite know what was wrong until the Opening Day broadcast with Mario Impemba and Rod Allen.
"After Opening Day, I knew something was wrong," he said. "I thought a lot of it had to do because I had neck surgery and shoulder surgery – a lot of neurological things – so after that day, just the way that I felt, I knew I needed to go see a doctor, which I did, and they diagnosed it pretty quickly."
-- Allan Lengel
