Aug. 13, 1964 - Manager Fred Hutchinson of the Cincinnati Reds, fighting a chest cancer that has left him weakened and in pain, decided today to take a leave of absence from the club for “at least” the duration of a road trip which opens tomorrow night in Houston.
The Reds also will play in San Francisco and Los Angeles before returning home on August 25. The team will leave Cincinnati tomorrow morning.
Hutchinson made the announcement at a news conference called by the club’s president, Bill DeWitt. He said DeWitt had agreed to the leave.
The Reds’ manager, who observed his 45th birthday yesterday, told of back pains he has been having and said:
“Possibly by the time of the next road trip, I will be feeling better.”
Coach Dick Sisler will be in charge of the team during the road trip. Sisler also directed the club for a week recently when Hutchinson was in Christ Hospital in Cincinnati for tests of his chest condition and back pains. Results of those tests never were disclosed.
Hutchinson’s absence will leave the Reds with only Sisler and coaches Reggie Otero and Jim Turner to direct the club. DeWitt said there were no plans at present to restore Johnny Temple to the coaching staff.
Temple, a former Cincinnati second baseman and coach, currently is scouting American League teams for the Reds, who are clinging to faint National League pennant hopes.
Going into the road trip, the team is in third place, 6½ games behind league-leading Philadelphia and 2½ games behind second-place San Francisco.
The fact that Hutchinson has cancer was discovered early this year when he went to his home city of Seattle for an examination. He underwent treatments there under the direction of his brother, Dr. William Hutchinson, but rejoined the club in time for spring training.
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