As Precaution Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Jerry Remy Is Skipping Red Sox Early Season Road Trip
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jerry Remy is healthy heading into the 2020 baseball season, but the coronavirus outbreak will keep the legendary Red Sox broadcaster out of the booth to start the season.
Remy was set to be in the NESN booth for the second part of Boston's season-opening road trip, a three-game swing in Baltimore against the Orioles. But given his lengthy battles with cancer, Remy's doctors have advised against the 67-year-old making the trip.
"I talked with Dr. [Larry] Ronan [Monday] and with all this going on, he feels that travel wouldn't be the best thing for me right now," Remy told The Boston Globe. "With all my underlying conditions, they don't want me getting sick somewhere else other than at Mass General – they don't want me quarantined somewhere and I can't get back to Mass General, where they would really want me."
Remy has battled cancer numerous times over the years, most recently in 2018 when a tumor was discovered in his lung. He still receives immunotherapy every three weeks and undergoes a CT scan every three months, according to the Globe, but says he is healthy and cancer-free at the moment.
But with all that is going on with coronavirus, Remy is OK with a cautious approach at this time.
"It sucks but it is what it is," said Remy. "It always bothers me to miss games. But if it's only three, that's fine. If the thing goes on and on and I have to miss more trips that's going to really bother me. But you have to take your health, that's obviously No. 1. You can't control this stuff. You see how it's affecting things here already. You wonder what it's going to be like a month from now but you just don't know. All I can do is, temporarily at this point, say that I will not do the Baltimore series and I'll be off the road for six weeks and then we'll reassess what the virus is doing and go from there."
There's no telling what MLB will decide to do with the new season, as other leagues around the world are postponing or cancelling games amid the coronavirus outbreak. The league, along with the NBA and NHL, has already closed locker rooms to non-essential personnel.
But as long as the Red Sox are playing, Remy is expected to be at Fenway Park for Boston's home opener on April 2. He is also on the schedule for Boston's trips to Minnesota and Toronto at the end of April.