MLB Pitcher Dave Dravecky: Strength Through Loss

Dave Dravecky, a left-handed major league pitcher who played for the Padres and Giants, brings his infectious zest for life and his compelling life narrative to this episode. He recounts his personal faith journey, starting from a seemingly mystical encounter with God on a playground at the age of 12, a memory that has stayed with him for over 50 years. His path to a deeper connection with God was marked by various pivotal moments, such as a transformative baseball trip to South America where he witnessed extreme poverty, a roommate who shared a small baseball book, and a Bible he found in a hotel room drawer.

Listening to Dave share the challenging highs and lows of his journey, which included a battle with cancer, treatment, and an unexpected return to baseball, is truly inspiring. Despite being dubbed the "come-back kid" after his return to the sport, Dave's life shortly after, once again took a major turn. He emphasizes the importance of learning to express his struggles during tough times, highlighting that even Christians can experience depression. His remarkable story is nothing short of extraordinary, and I encourage you to hear all the inspiring details directly from him on Amazing Greats.

Listen to the story right here:

Watch the story right here:

DAVE DRAVECKY AT A GLANCE

Major League Baseball Pitcher • San Francisco Giants Star • Cancer Survivor • Christian Speaker • Author

Topics

Major League Baseball • San Francisco Giants • San Diego Padres • Cancer • Comeback • Amputation • Depression • Christian faith • Suffering • Grace • Identity • Perseverance

His Faith Journey

Catholic upbringing → Early encounter with God → Searching for a personal relationship with Jesus → Coming to faith in 1981 → Major League success → Cancer diagnosis → Learning dependence on God → Miraculous baseball comeback → Arm fracture and amputation → Depression and counseling → Ministry and testimony

This Episode Explores

• Dave Dravecky's rise from the minor leagues to Major League Baseball

• His trade from the Padres to the Giants and his breakthrough 1987 season

• How Dave Dravecky came to a personal relationship with Jesus

• His 1988 cancer diagnosis and the doctors' prediction that he would never pitch again

• His dramatic return to the mound in 1989

• The breaking of his arm five days after his comeback

• Losing his left arm and struggling with depression and identity

• How counseling and vulnerability helped Dave process his pain

• Why Dave believes suffering can become an intersection with God

• His message of grace, hope and Jesus for people who are struggling

Questions Answered

• Who is Dave Dravecky?

• How did Dave Dravecky come to faith in Jesus?

• What happened to Dave Dravecky's pitching arm?

• How did Dave Dravecky come back from cancer?

• What happened when Dave Dravecky's arm broke?

• Why did Dave Dravecky have his arm amputated?

• How did losing his arm affect Dave Dravecky emotionally?

• How did Dave Dravecky deal with depression?

• What did Dave Dravecky learn about God through suffering?

• What advice does Dave Dravecky give people who are struggling?

• What is Dave Dravecky's message to people seeking God?

Podcast Transcript: Dave Dravecky on Baseball, Cancer, Faith, Suffering & the Miracle of Grace

Amazing Greats with Ric Hansen

Hey, this is Ric Hansen on Amazing Greats.

We have the opportunity each and every episode to share the stories, the life stories, of some pretty awesome people—authors and athletes, actors, musicians and business leaders.

And today is definitely one of the greatest.

Major League Baseball star Dave Dravecky is with us.

His journey is an extraordinary one from the very beginning to today. His powerful baseball journey set the stage for a lifetime ministry.

Let's find out about this baseball story.

A Major League Career Takes Off

On July 4, 1987, Giants General Manager Al Rosen was finally able to obtain Dave Dravecky, acquiring the left-hander in a trade from San Diego.

Dave Dravecky: That was an interesting time in my life because I'd just come from the Padres, and they were in last place.

And I get traded to the Giants, who are in first place.

We go into the playoffs in 1987 against the Cardinals, and things are going great. I pitched the two best games of my career.

In the 1987 NLCS, Dravecky dominated the Cardinals, pitching a total of 15 innings, allowing one run and striking out 14.

Entering 1988 in the prime of his career, Dravecky seemed destined to be the staff ace of the Giants for years to come.

Dave Dravecky: So Opening Day, Roger Craig hands me the baseball.

And I was so fired up and thinking, "Man, this is going to be my year."

And by September of 1988, I was being diagnosed with cancer in my left arm, halfway between the shoulder and the elbow.

And the doctors were telling me, "Outside of a miracle, you would never pitch again."

Ric Hansen: Oh man.

What a great afternoon we have here today with a legendary left-handed pitcher from the major leagues who played for the Padres and the Giants.

And he is here with us today to tell his story.

It's an amazing baseball story, but it's also an amazing life story and a wonderful Jesus journey that we get to talk about today.

Thank you, Dave Dravecky, for being here with us today.

Dave Dravecky: It's my pleasure, Ric.

And by the way, when you introduced me as a legend, only in my own mind. I don't know about anybody else's, buddy.

Ric Hansen: I think you are a notable left-handed pitcher.

And what made you even more notable is what we're going to talk about here in the unfolding moments about that comeback pitch—when you returned to baseball from your health diagnosis and treatment.

But let's get started.

Let's jump back to your childhood.

Did you come from a Christian home? Where was your faith based in your early life?

A Catholic Upbringing and an Early Encounter with God

Dave Dravecky: Well, in my early life, I was raised in the Catholic Church.

God was very present.

My parents were extremely intentional in getting us to church every Sunday. I was an altar boy for eight years in parochial school.

I passed on parochial high school only because the high school that I could go to back then didn't have a baseball program. So I ended up at the public high school.

Growing up in those formative years, I was extremely grateful for that foundation in my life.

Obviously, things would transpire moving down the road, but from a spiritual perspective, let's just say that God was in the picture.

But at that point in my life, something really interesting happened when I think I was around 11 to 13 years of age.

I remember being in church at the parochial school. Our church that we went to was there as well.

I don't know if I was coming out of the church doors and it was recess, if I was coming out from going to confession, or if we were just in there for some reason as a class and then we got released into the playground area for recess.

I'll never forget walking out of the doors of the church on my own.

I don't share this very often, and I don't know why, but I got stopped dead in my tracks.

It was like I ran into a presence, and I had no idea what it was.

I've never forgotten that moment because it felt like God stopped me in that moment.

I sensed that it was His presence.

And then within five seconds, I'm running out to the field where we're playing football, and I proceed to get in a fight with one of the kids.

So go figure about my spiritual journey as a young 12- or 13-year-old kid!

But at the end of the day, I look back on that moment because I am a firm believer that it's not about praying a prayer and walking down an aisle.

God meets us in very unique and sometimes strange places to get our attention.

Whether He gets our attention in that moment or He gets our attention down the road and reminds us of that is a mystery to me.

But I was extremely grateful, now looking back, for that moment.

Finding a Personal Relationship with Jesus

Ric Hansen: I love that you share that story because, as you're saying that, I had kind of a similar little thing going on in my youth.

I must have been 12, 13, 14, something like that.

It was coming home from church with my mom, driving in the car, and it was one of those clearly present moments of God.

It was temporary.

But what He said in that moment was, because I was struggling with my social life and all the things you go through in adolescence, "I'm going to take care of you."

And then, like you say, life went on, and that was forgotten.

I was a Catholic kid, too.

I firmly believe that Catholic background was instrumental with me, as well as you're describing with you.

But it does change as time goes on, and we get busy and do things that are very secular along the way.

In 1981, you had a come-to-Jesus moment—a time when there was really a relationship with Jesus.

Can you explain in detail what that moment was like?

Dave Dravecky: Yeah, it was really powerful because I believe God was setting the stage two years prior to that experience.

A lot of it revolved around not playing in the States, but playing winter ball in Colombia, South America.

I was under the impression that going to Colombia, to Barranquilla, I was going to be going to a tropical paradise.

The first year my wife, Jan, joined me, and it was a far cry from a tropical paradise.

It was an industrial town, and we had never seen so much poverty in our whole lives.

We struggled so much with it.

But in the context of that struggle, Jan was questioning the very existence of God.

How could a loving God allow this to happen?

From my perspective, I'm like, "Holy smokes, this is scary."

I'm running toward God for protection. I'm running toward God for safety.

As a result of that, I started asking questions and began somewhat of a search down there with a small group of guys who were gathering and spending time talking about their faith.

That year passes, and now it's 1980, and I'm being asked to go back to Colombia, South America, when I had made a promise to my wife I'd never go back after the first year.

They called up and said, "Dave, we really want you to go."

So I said, "Okay."

The ball club calls and says you go. They consider you a prospect, even though they're not telling you that, so you go.

Jan looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you this time."

Well, now I get down there, and these guys are gathering for a Bible study.

And I'm all in because I know where I'm going after my first-year experience.

It was scary.

I'm going back down there because I am going to try and show these guys I'm worthy enough to stay in their organization and move up the ladder.

As a result of that, I started hearing these young men talk about their faith in God and their personal relationship with Jesus.

And that was foreign to me.

It wasn't that I was unaware of Jesus.

We had Christmas. I knew the baby was born.

We had Easter. I knew there was a resurrection.

I knew He went to the cross.

But all of a sudden, I'm hearing these guys talk about a personal relationship.

And it was the coolest experience.

The Bible, Grace and a New Life

That leads up to what happens in 1981.

I was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the San Diego Padres, and they shipped me off to Amarillo, Texas.

In Amarillo, my roommate, the first day I got there, was staying at the Howard Johnson Inn.

Over the first few days, we got through the niceties and all that.

But then I noticed that all of a sudden he was reading literature that was very interesting to me.

One of them was The Handbook on Athletic Perfection by Wes Neal.

I didn't know this, but I'm thinking, "I want to be the perfect athlete, so that must be the book I need to read."

It was just a little pamphlet, and I hate reading books, but when it was so thin and so small, I thought I could read it.

So I asked him about it.

He goes, "Oh, you're interested in Christian stuff?"

I said, "Oh, that's Christian stuff?"

He said, "It's all about being the perfect athlete, but it's from a spiritual perspective."

So he gently and tenderly took me on this journey and eventually challenged me to read the Bible to discover who I was in relationship to God.

It was there on that journey that I opened up the Scriptures for the first time in my life.

I'll never forget, back a year before that in Buffalo, New York, after being in Colombia the first year, I remembered being on the road with Bob Weismiller, who was a pitcher on the Bisons' team and my roommate.

He was a veteran, having been in the minor leagues for about seven years.

He had left to go to the store to get some water and snacks.

I went into the drawer of the hotel and pulled out the Bible.

I thought, "I think I'm going to look at this and just see what's in it."

Then I saw him coming to the door, and I threw it back into the drawer and hid it.

So now here I am with Byron's challenge.

That challenge was one I thought, "Why would I not?"

I think I'm a Christian, even though I don't go for the born-again stuff.

I actually told him when he said, "Are you born again?"

I said, "No, I'm not into that Jesus-freak stuff."

So—and it's rather ironic as we sit here and talk—I'm a Jesus freak.

Ric Hansen: You know you are.

Dave Dravecky: Absolutely.

Anyway, it was through reading the Scriptures that I discovered who I was in relationship to God and who He is.

It was through that process that the Scriptures revealed to me that I was a sinner.

There was no argument there. I knew who I was when I looked in the mirror.

But I also came face to face with a passage that scared me:

"For the wages of sin is death."

I didn't understand what that meant.

And so Byron gently shared with me, "Dave, you know, if you're born once, you're going to die twice. But if you're born twice, you'll only die once."

I said, "Dude, what the heck does that mean?"

He said, "We all are born physically, right?"

I said, "Yeah."

He says, "Well, if you don't deal with the spiritual thing, which is what we're dealing with right now, and you die—if you're only born once, you die twice. You die a physical death and you die a spiritual death.

"But if you're born twice—"

I said, "Oh, so if I'm born physically, which I know I am, but I'm also born again, I'm only going to die once, and that's when I leave this body?"

He goes, "Yeah."

I said, "Well, then what happens?"

He says, "You spend the rest of eternity with Jesus."

I said, "Seriously?"

He goes, "Yeah. That's what heaven's all about, Dave."

I said, "Well, I hope that one day I would get there. So what do I have to do to get there?"

Through the course of the conversation, he said, "Believe. Repent of your sin and confess it. If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

"All you have to do is put your faith and trust in that, Dave. God will take care of the rest."

And I'm like, "Really?"

He's like, "Yeah. That's it."

That's what happened when you went to church at Christmas. The baby Jesus came into this world for a purpose.

And that purpose was to save you from your sin.

The reason why He went to the cross and suffered a brutal death—a man who knew no sin and was perfect—went to the cross and died on your behalf and took on all the sin of the world so that those who would come to Him would be forgiven.

And I'm like, "Okay, man, this is amazing."

The Moment Everything Changed

I didn't know how to be all in.

One day I'm sitting on the balcony, and here's what's really interesting.

There were six other couples who were on the same journey with me and Jan.

Jan joined me a little bit later that season, and now all of a sudden she's in on the equation.

Danny and Mary Gospels were in on the equation. Tony and Alicia Gwynn were in on the equation. Mark and Debbie Thurman, who went to the big leagues.

There were several of us.

It was amazing.

Jerry and Sheila DeSimone—these are all friends to this day.

We were all on the same journey.

We were in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Roadway Inn.

We were playing against the Cardinals, their Double-A farm team.

And Danny Gospel—how ironic is this?—I'm on the balcony, the second-floor balcony outside the door of our room, sitting on the balcony there, and I'm talking about the gospel with Danny Gospel.

So we open up and we're reading our little—I had a little Gideon's pocket Bible, New Testament, red leather. I still have it. Red-letter edition with the words of Jesus.

And I'm in Ephesians chapter 2.

All of a sudden I read:

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works, so that no man can boast."

"For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He, God, prepared in advance for us to do."

That sealed the deal.

No works. Don't boast about it.

It's all about Him.

It's His gift that He gives freely.

And, oh, by the way, in the honesty and sincerity of receiving that gift, good works will become the result of this because you are now My masterpiece, and I'm turning you into that masterpiece over your lifetime.

I didn't understand that to the full as I do today, but it began the journey of being made brand new in Jesus.

That's the other thing I didn't really fully understand back then, but I understand a whole lot better today:

God didn't go to the cross to make me better.

He went to the cross to give me a brand-new life.

Everything about me prior to the cross and putting my trust in Him, He nailed to the cross.

It went to the cross and died with Jesus.

The only reason why I struggle with it today is because I'm the one who chooses to resurrect what is dead in my flesh.

But I want to live out of who I am in Christ.

"Christ in me, the hope of glory."

"It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

That's the beauty of the gospel, man.

He changes everything.

He's in the business of transforming hearts.

And all you've got to do is ask my wife whether or not He's transformed mine.

Especially in the last 13 or 14 years, she doesn't know who I am.

And she actually likes the guy that God is transforming today better than she did 14 years ago before she married me.

Ric Hansen: Yeah.

Dave Dravecky: Well, we were married 45 years ago.

Life at the Top of Major League Baseball

Ric Hansen: I love that.

That is so great that you can tell that story in such detail.

It's just such a wise moment here for all of us to observe for your life.

This is Ric Hansen and the ups and devastating challenges of former Padres and Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky on Amazing Greats.

But now let's jump back into baseball just a little bit because I want to talk about the sequence of events that happened in your career playing baseball.

You were at the height of it all at one point.

Not only had you played with the Padres, but then you got traded to the Giants, which you didn't know was going to be a great thing, but it turned out to be a fantastic thing.

Tell us about those major league days.

You played with the Padres for what, five or six years?

Dave Dravecky: Yeah, five years.

So from Amarillo, I got to Hawaii the next year, and that was Triple-A.

Then on June 8, 1982, I got called up to the big leagues.

Two days earlier, I became a dad.

My daughter Tiffany was born.

Jan and I had started a family, and right after that, I get a call.

Life couldn't have been any better.

I've become a dad and I have this beautiful little girl, and two days later I'm going to get a call: "You're going to the big leagues."

Like, wow. This is awesome.

I stuck in '82, went to the All-Star Game in '83, World Series in '84—even though we lost. Second place, get really nice rings, too.

That was really cool.

Then in '87 I got traded from the last-place Padres to the first-place Giants.

Being with the Giants, looking back—because I work for them now, I've been on staff with them for 14 years as a community ambassador—it's been a wonderful journey.

But when I look back on those years, I don't know that I fully understood what it meant to wear a Giants uniform.

I knew it was pretty special, but you're there.

Willie Mays walks in the clubhouse almost every day.

Willie McCovey walks in almost every day.

Orlando Cepeda is there.

Gaylord Perry is there.

Juan Marichal is there.

Even Monte Irvin would show up in the early days of the 2000s when we moved into the new ballpark.

Putting on that uniform for the Giants and now being with them was really cool.

I was on top of my game in that second half with the Giants.

I pitched some of the best baseball that I had ever pitched.

And actually, when they talk about baseball today, when you reach 32 years of age, you're kind of on your downhill.

I was just reaching the apex.

I had finally found a rhythm that I could duplicate and repeat over and over no matter what.

It was the greatest feeling in the world.

So going into the postseason, I'm like, "Man, I am ready to just mow the Cardinals down."

Game two, I throw a two-hit shutout and we win 5-0.

Game six, I go out again against John Tudor, a great left-hander.

Unfortunately, we lose 1-0 in that game.

I pitched as well in that game as I did in game two, but just fell short on the victory.

We end the season disappointed, didn't get to the World Series, but man, 1988 is going to be my year.

So Opening Day, Roger Craig hands me the baseball.

One of the greatest honors, outside of maybe throwing a no-hitter, is being given the baseball on Opening Day as a starting pitcher.

Ric Hansen: You're the star of the show, right?

Dave Dravecky: Yeah.

And part of the reason why is because it's not just about you, but you get to lead your team into the new year.

We did that at Chavez Ravine at Dodger Stadium, Opening Day 1988.

I'll never forget getting out on the mound, all fired up.

I'm the number-one guy out of the shoot for the Giants.

Steve Sax comes to the plate.

My go-to pitch against him is a cutter on the inside part of the plate.

I've broken that kid's back so many times, it's not funny.

But the only problem is, as he tells me the story about 10 years ago when I saw him, he knew I was coming in with my cutter.

This time he said, "I'm going to step in the bucket and drive it down the left-field line."

Sure enough, I throw the cutter on the first pitch of the game and he knocks it out of the park for a home run.

I'm like, "You've got to be kidding me."

I stood on the butt and said, "Okay, God, is this what it's going to be like?"

But then I caught myself.

I don't know if it was God's voice or my voice, but I said, "Wait a minute. It's only one pitch. It's only one run. Dave, just shut them out from here and see if our ball club can score two."

From that point forward, I threw a three-hit shutout and went nine innings, and we defeated the Dodgers 5-1.

But even more important, Ric, on that day I hit a double off Fernando in right-center field.

Ric Hansen: Oh my God.

Dave Dravecky: Pitchers love bragging about their hitting.

They can't do that today because there are no pitchers hitting.

But back when I played, there was no DH in the National League.

And man, I loved going to the plate.

Being able to say I hit a double off Fernando, quite frankly, might be a little bit more important than actually being the winning pitcher that day.

Yeah, that was pretty special.

The Cancer Diagnosis

Ric Hansen: But then 1988, your year, turned out to be a very different kind of year than you expected it to be.

Tell us what happened next.

Dave Dravecky: Yeah, it was really hard.

All of a sudden I just started having arm problems, totally unrelated to the cancer, and ended up with a partially torn biceps tendon.

Going into September, it wasn't real good.

I had tried to come back and pitch, and it was just really bad.

They noticed, and I had noticed throughout the season, that there was this lump on my arm.

By the end of the year it just started getting really big, and it was about half the size of a golf ball.

As a result, I went in for an MRI.

My wife and I were in the examining room, waiting for the doctors to come back and tell us what was going on.

We weren't thinking cancer because the conversation had been about possible scar tissue calcifying and forming a mass.

When we pitch, when we throw a baseball, you tear down muscle fiber.

Sometimes, in tearing muscle fiber, it can calcify and harden and turn into a mass.

They likened it to the "blocker's bruise" that football players get.

So that's what we're thinking sitting in the examining room.

All of a sudden, the doctors come down the hallway.

The door to our room is open about three inches, and before they come in, they put the films up underneath the lights on the outside in the hallway.

They start talking about how they're going to communicate to us that I have cancer.

We hear this.

I look at Jan and I'm like, "Babe, did you just hear?"

She's just staring at me.

And I go, "You know what? We need to pray."

I don't wax eloquently when I pray.

I think simple prayers are just fine with God.

And I don't close my eyes either.

I think God's okay with that too.

When I close my eyes, my mind just goes off into space someplace else, and oftentimes I'm not even focused on the prayer.

So I'm standing there with my eyes open, and I just said:

"God, I have absolutely no idea what we are about to face. But whatever it is, all I ask is that You give us the strength to endure. That's all I ask."

And they came in and confirmed that, in fact, I had cancer.

Then the doctor looked at us and said, "Outside of the miracle, you'll never pitch again."

And I was sitting there thinking, "Pitch?"

I just want to know if I'm going to live.

If I die from this disease, who's going to marry my wife?

An important question from my perspective.

And then I said, "Is that guy going to love my kids and my wife as much as I do?"

But then here's what came into my mind:

"Oh my gosh, will he love them more because I know who I am?"

Learning That Faith Isn't a Checklist

So, just a 33,000-foot-level view of my journey as a follower in Christ during my career for six years prior to that point:

It ebbed and flowed just like everybody else.

Some days we're good in reading, and other days there was no reading.

Some days we're good in prayer, other days there was no prayer.

You get caught up in the trappings of the world, the stuff of the world, and you realize it's important, but somehow you get distracted.

So you remember that, and then you jump right back in.

The beauty of what I'm learning today at 68 is my reading the Bible, my praying, my studying—all those things—none of them get me into heaven.

The only thing that gets me into heaven is Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb.

What I needed to understand was I don't need to do these things as a list of things to do.

That's been my whole life story as an athlete.

You check off the list to please the people you perform for, and I was checking off the list to please God, who I was performing for.

The worst part in all of that, Ric, was that I was miserable in my performance.

And the reason why was I could never live up to the expectations that I thought God was placing on me.

The truth was, I was the one putting those expectations on me, not God.

All of a sudden, I woke up one day and realized God doesn't ask me to check off a list.

He invites me into a way of life.

And that way of life is about two things:

Loving Him with everything I've got, and loving my neighbor as myself.

So what I came to realize was, when I read the Bible, I fall more in love with the One I'm reading about.

When I know my wife more, and I get to see the beautiful things about her because I'm with her and I'm learning about her by being with her, I fall more in love with her.

When I talk to her and she talks with me and we engage, I fall more in love with her through our conversations.

So why not talk with God and fall more in love with God through our conversations with Him?

Studying the Bible is really simply about learning more about the One that I love and the One that loves me more than I can comprehend.

The years have taught me that there are intersections in life as a follower of Christ where God gets your attention.

Unfortunately, most of those times are through adversity or some kind of suffering.

But He gets our attention.

And what He simply wants is more of us so that we can get more of Him.

He's always going to be giving us Himself totally.

Not because we decided to check in with Him and see how things are going.

He didn't do that with us.

He's always there.

Always.

It's just when we make too much noise, we can't hear that He's there.

We can't see that He's there because we're so distracted by all the other stuff.

That's why Jesus says, "Fix our eyes on Him, the author and perfecter of our faith."

And He'll give us the strength to endure.

Which is what I asked.

The Miracle Comeback

Ric Hansen: Amazing Greats takes some time to dig deep into the life and the Jesus journey of author and Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher Dave Dravecky.

And endure you did.

As a matter of fact, that miracle of playing baseball again actually came true.

You did realize that miracle.

That's the next part of this amazing story.

You were not supposed to ever pitch again.

Some people said maybe you should wait a year or two, but none of that happened.

What happened next, Dave?

Dave Dravecky: Ten months later, after intense rehabilitation and a lot of bloody noses, figuratively speaking—you know, where you kind of run into a wall and you just can't break through—all of a sudden I found myself at Candlestick Park on August 10, 1989, standing on the mound, getting ready to pitch again against the Cincinnati Reds.

All I could hear was, "Outside of a miracle, Dave, you'll never pitch again."

I was standing there on the mound going, "Oh my gosh, God, I guess You're the one who's really in control here because I'm here pitching and the doctors were wrong."

It was such a beautiful day.

It was an incredible experience.

It was just overwhelming.

I remember standing on the mound and stepping back and acknowledging the fans and their cheering for me.

It was beautiful, and I was so grateful.

I knew that a big part of the reason why I was standing there was because God used them and their support of me through all the mail that we received saying, "We're praying for you. We're wishing you well."

So I stood there and I was just so thankful.

And all I could hear was:

"Give thanks with a grateful heart,

Give thanks to the Holy One,

Give thanks because He's given us His Son, Jesus Christ."

And I was like, "Oh my gosh, God, I am so grateful for this moment."

Then I stood there and went, "Okay. Game on."

The umpire's going to say, "Play ball."

He said, "Play ball."

I threw the first pitch—a ball so that we could keep it—and then proceeded to go eight full innings and throw 93 pitches to a victory where the Giants won that day 4-3.

It was amazing.

After that game, there was a story wrapped around my story with a little boy by the name of Alex Lajos.

He was battling for his life. He had leukemia.

I had met him prior to the comeback game.

On that day, the local radio station said, "San Francisco Giants Bay Area fans, we're going to support little Alex by donating money toward his cause for every pitch that Dave throws that day."

Those 93 pitches raised over $200,000 to help his mom and dad offset the costs associated with people coming forward to donate blood.

Some 7,000 people came forward.

So you're looking at $75 a head, almost over a half a million dollars.

Several hundred thousand dollars was raised to help this little boy.

I'm standing in the press conference, and he comes into the press conference.

I grab him and I'm holding him in my arm.

I have this picture in my office of me holding Alex.

I'll never forget it.

Nobody was asking a question, and I said, "Could we please stop just for a moment?"

"I want to say something."

"I just want to give this moment to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and thank Him for giving me another chance."

"And I want to give Him all the glory."

Then we went into questions about my cutter, my fastball, whatever.

I was like, "This is cool."

Five Days Later: The Arm Breaks

Five days later, we're in Montreal.

Now I'm back in the saddle.

I'm with my teammates.

I'm not on the sidelines anymore.

I'm actually wearing my uniform.

I'm now a part of the 25-man roster.

It feels so good, Ric.

All of a sudden, the game starts.

We're in the sixth inning and I'm rolling.

Everything's going great.

We're winning 2-1.

Tim Raines is at the plate.

I rear back to throw a fastball, and my left arm snaps in half.

I go falling to the ground.

I'm laying on the ground, and all I could hear were Bob Knepper's words.

I had had lunch with him about five hours earlier, pregame meal, and he was a brother in Christ and a teammate at that time.

At that lunch he said:

"Dave, it's not the miracle of the comeback. It's the miracle of salvation that occurred in your life in 1981 in Amarillo, Texas."

"And God is providing a platform for you through baseball to share His love with those who hurt."

As I laid on the ground, Ric, those words were the only words I could hear.

I was overwhelmed.

I almost went into shock, but when I came out of shock, I was like, "God, what are You up to?"

This is crazy.

Why did I have three minor league games before the comeback game?

Why didn't my arm break in one of those minor league games?

Why didn't my arm break during rehab?

Why didn't it break in the comeback game?

And why did it break five days afterward?

Because the whole world got to see it.

The whole world.

"Where Is Your God Now?"

So now I'm sitting in a suite at the hotel the next morning, broken arm in a sling.

Al Rosen asks me to come up for a press conference before I leave.

Al was the president and GM of the Giants at the time.

I go up there.

Scotty Garrelts and Bob Knepper follow me up.

I'm standing there in his suite in front of all these reporters.

There had to be at least a dozen of them sitting in there.

Nobody's asking me any questions.

I'm just standing there thinking, "Okay, guys, I've got to go catch a plane."

All of a sudden, Lowell Cohn from the Sporting Green in San Francisco raises his hand and goes:

"Dave, so where is your God now?"

Ric Hansen: I've got to say the right thing right now.

Dave Dravecky: I looked at Lowell and I went:

"He hasn't gone anywhere, Lowell."

"He still lives right here in my heart."

"And the only thing that's changed are my circumstances."

"And now I have to just trust Him to give me the strength to endure this next phase."

And you could hear a pin drop.

I was like, "Whoa. Where did that come from?"

"Thank You, Holy Spirit. That was amazing."

So, anyway, off I went to San Francisco to meet the doctors there.

Obviously there was concern that cancer had come back.

That November, right before Thanksgiving—rather ironic, singing "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart"—I was sitting there saying, "It's time for me to retire."

I called the Giants and said, "I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to announce my retirement."

And you know what was amazing about the Giants?

I don't know that very many people are aware of this, but they actually offered me a contract even when they knew that more than likely I wouldn't come back and play.

Ric Hansen: Really?

Dave Dravecky: And I declined.

I thanked them, but I just wouldn't feel right being able to do that.

Losing an Arm and Finding Strength in Weakness

Ric Hansen: There was a phase of depression that followed all of that.

Now the chosen course of action was to remove the arm at the shoulder.

That had to be devastating.

The whole concept of being a left-handed pitcher and now having no left hand or arm—that sent you into an emotional spiral for a period of time.

It was not just a week or two.

As you describe it, it was 30 months.

Dave Dravecky: Yeah.

It was a very difficult period of time.

I find it really interesting when people say Christians shouldn't be depressed or don't get depressed.

I just shake my head when I hear those terms.

You know what?

We're human.

Sometimes we're going to experience and go through things that, quite frankly, we can't endure.

When the cancer kept coming back and it eventually got to the point where, after a staph infection for 10 months, I couldn't use my arm.

Let me put it this way.

I would go to sign baseball cards.

Being left-handed, I literally would have to grab my hand, pick it up, put it on the desk, put the pen in my hand, and hope that I could write my name legibly.

So when it got to the point when the doctor said, "It's time to remove your left arm and shoulder," I was like, "Let's get rid of this thing."

It had become a nuisance.

It hurt when people hit me.

It hurt.

Anybody that bumped up against me, whatever it was, it was always pain.

So I just got to the point where I was ready for it to be gone.

I'll never forget the morning of the surgery, the amputation.

My parents were with me, my wife's there with me.

On my way out on the gurney to the operating room, I picked up my left hand.

I should have never done this.

But I picked it up and waved it to my family and said, "Goodbye, everybody."

My mom was so mad at me.

She's like, "How could you do that, dude?"

I was like, "Mom, I'm sorry, but I can't wait to get rid of it."

So off I go, and the arm and shoulder come off.

I get out of recovery and go to my room.

The next day, I want to get out of bed and walk because the challenge was to be able to walk a mile on the 10th floor, and that was 16 laps.

I wanted to be able to do that.

It was an intense surgery.

I tried to get out of bed and go into the bathroom and look in the mirror because I couldn't tell.

I needed to see it.

I needed to visualize it.

I go to get up and almost fell out of bed.

I grabbed myself and scooted back up in bed, pushed a button, and the nurse comes running in.

"What's wrong?"

I said, "Well, I tried to get out of bed and almost fell out."

She goes, "Don't you ever do that again. That's what that button's for. If you need anything, you call me and I come and help you."

I said, "Sorry. Sorry."

Then I said, "Could you please get me out of bed? I really want to see."

She goes, "Okay."

So we got out of bed and she walked me over to the bathroom.

I was able to get stable enough.

I didn't feel like passing out or anything like that.

Now I'm standing there and I pick my head up and look into the mirror.

And, Ric, it was like, "Whoa."

So this is what a full-quarter amputation looks like.

I looked in the mirror and said:

"Well, okay, God.

If this is the deck of cards You played for me, then this is what I've got to live with.

Let's go."

I'll never forget saying that.

I thought to myself, now that I've gotten rid of my arm, all the struggles in the past since retiring and going through all the surgeries that were really hard, going through the radiation that was really hard, going through the staph infection that was really hard, the ups and downs of life spiritually, physically and emotionally—

Now you get rid of my arm, and all my problems are going to be gone.

Three weeks out, I was in counseling with my wife, admitting that I was depressed and struggling with my identity.

For the next 30 months, Jan and I went through counseling.

I know it was a long way of getting there, but the reality was learning how to communicate my pain was the greatest gift that God gave me in setting me free from that pain.

What I was doing was stuffing it because I didn't want people to see my weakness.

And what I realized was what the Scriptures taught me:

"My power is made perfect in weakness."

I learned that in my weakness, I could actually trust in His power to help me endure what I had to face.

As a result of that, I started—

And what's really ironic about that is I was traveling the country telling my story as a professional communicator.

And I had no clue how to communicate.

Most men don't, Ric.

Most men don't.

That's why a lot of men have problems with their marriages.

Wives are begging them to talk.

"What's going on inside?"

"How was your day at work?"

Don't come home and say, "I'm fine," and hide everything.

That's why I'm here.

That's why we're married.

I should be the closest one to you.

I should be the one you want to tell.

Because no matter whether you're weak or strong, I'm going to love you.

So I started learning to do that.

The first 18 months were with Jan, going through counseling.

The last 12 months were with an anger-management counselor who taught me how to manage my anger.

It was one of the greatest gifts that God has ever given me through Gary Oliver, who was a Christian counselor.

I was so grateful for that.

What to Do When You're Struggling

Ric Hansen: Wow.

Advice to someone who has struggles—whether they be physical struggles, mental struggles, career struggles, marriage struggles—what would your advice be to someone who's listening and going through some stuff?

Dave Dravecky: I think the most important thing is to recognize, when you're in the midst of that struggle, the people around you who love you and care for you, who you trust, and who you can share and go into that place with.

But what you have to promise yourself when you go into that place is that they're not there to fix you.

You don't want them there to fix you.

You want them there to give you a safe place to be able to process this stuff with God.

But if that's difficult, then the next step is not to be afraid to seek professional help.

A Word for Seekers

Ric Hansen: We're getting close to wrapping this up.

One question I always like to ask folks like yourself is: Do you have any advice or encouragement for people?

There are those in our audience who are seekers, not necessarily believers—either seekers or new believers—that you could pass along as encouragement to them.

Dave Dravecky: Yeah.

I was actually thinking about that this morning.

I was sitting outside and watching the birds, and I have this beautiful view of the valley of Phoenix.

I just look around and see God's incredible creation.

And if you're out there and you're seeking, you can't deny that there had to be a Creator.

There's just too much to this creation to deny the reality of that.

And yet some will, and that's okay.

You can't force people to think a certain way.

I think that's the beauty of Christianity.

Nobody's trying to force you to think any way.

We just want to introduce you to the One who loves you more than you can comprehend so you can experience a life that is the greatest life on this planet.

Closing

Ric Hansen: Dave Dravecky, my God, you're preaching the word, my friend.

You are so inspiring.

I love your enthusiasm and love for the Lord.

And I thank you so much for taking this afternoon and spending an hour with us, talking about Jesus, talking about your life, the struggles of your life, and the mountaintops of your life.

It has just been a true pleasure to have this time to converse with you.

Thank you so, so much.

Dave Dravecky: You're welcome, Ric. It's been a pleasure to be able to visit with you, too.

Ric Hansen: Dave Dravecky absolutely oozes with his love of life and his love of Jesus, and his story reverberates whenever he lights up to tell that story.

One of our best guests yet.

Yes, it was Dave Dravecky.

Thanks for sharing your day with us on Amazing Greats today.

Your support is truly appreciated, and I hope you found this episode to be interesting, encouraging and useful.

And until next time, God bless.