Devil Rays Outfieldier Diagnosed

Devil Ray Rocco Baldelli is feeling the fatigue.

The Sports Illustrated website expands on a story in their March 24 issue regarding Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ outfielder Rocco Baldelli’s mystery illness, which the baseball player referred to as “metabolic and/or mitochnodrial abnormalities.” Sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome (also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) recognize this as the current leading theory behind the syndrome’s diagnosis.
Baldelli described the same frustration with symptoms and a disappointing medical response felt by many CFIDS sufferers:

“My body is literally spent after a very short amount of time out on the field, which makes it extremely frustrating and difficult,” he said, at times appearing on the verge of tears. “But it’s something that’s kind of a reality right now, something we’re dealing with the best that we can.”

The Rays sent him to several doctors during the offseason, hoping to determine why he has been unable to recover from what they initially believed was a routine hamstring injury. The decision to place him on the DL was made after the experts reached a consensus on Baldelli’s condition.

“It’s one of those things, unfortunately, that they can’t diagnose 100 percent,” Rays executive vice president of baseball operation Andrew Friedman said.

“There’s a high confidence level that it is this. But we’re still dealing with a little bit of an unknown. We’re going to do everything possible from this day forward to continue to dig and figure out and try to identify exactly what it is and also how to treat it.”

The diagnosis comes after several injury-plagued seasons in which Baldelli’s body seemed unable to make the usual recovery after routine injuries. Baldelli, who hit .289 and stole 27 bases in his rookie season, began the season on the disabled list and will likely see his contract bought out in April.

Baldelli’s diagnosis is especially significant to the CFIDS/FM community, members of which face daily disbelief and accusations of laziness regarding their condition. The fact that professional athletes are no more immune to the debilitating symptoms of the condition than the general population might help to combat lack of education about the illness.

Unfortunately the stigma of the term “CFS” remains prominent, as illustrated by S.I.’s failure to actually name the syndrome anywhere in the article. After all, if celebrities with a $4 million buyout option can’t say the words, what level of bias must regular sufferers face?