Brandon Marsh's RBI double
South Side boxing event aims to find cure for children's brain tumor
It's just about time to get ready to rumble for a good cause on the city's South Side. Dan Letz is the owner and operator of Letz Box Chicago—a pugilistic palace in Mount Greenwood. For the last several months, he's been training a good-hearted, fleet-footed field of warriors who are fighting to help find a cure for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), which is a brain tumor that can develop in the brainstem. "It's horrific. It affects mainly children," Katie Gaskin said. "It's a tumor that grows within the brain stem, specifically in the ponds, and when a child is diagnosed with this, right now, they're really only given radiation as a treatment option and usually eight to 12 months to live." Gaskin's son, Anthony, was 7 years old when he died from DIPG, just 19 months after his diagnosis. In memory of Anthony, who Gaskin described as an old soul who loved the Chicago Cubs, she started the Anthony's Avengers DIPG Foundation. Letz and Gaskin have partnered to host an event on Friday, June 13 at Saint Rita of Cascia High School in benefit of Anthony's Avengers and their mission to find a cure. Starting at 7 p.m., the St. Rita Mustang's football field will be transformed into a boxing ring under the Friday night lights of a different sort. WGN's Pat Elwood brings you the story. For more info on Anthony's Avengers and the fight to find a cure, visit their website: https://anthonysavengers.org/
3:44
Now Playing
Paused
Ad Playing
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Patrice Bergeron shares advice for Roman Anthony to have successful MLB career
Patrice Bergeron was just 18 years old when he made his NHL debut for the Boston Bruins. So he had a sense of how 21-year-old Romany Anthony was feeling ahead of his MLB debut with the Boston Red Sox. Bergeron went on to become a centerpiece for the Bruins over two decades. The future Hall of Fame center won a record six Selke Trophy's in his career, a Stanley Cup in 2011 and captained Boston for three seasons while being a respected player throughout the NHL. Advertisement He did that by listening those around him, and he offered up that same advice to Anthony. 'Soak everything up as much as you can,' Bergeron said on NESN's 'Unobstructed Views' on Monday. 'You gotta make sure you're listening to your veterans, listening to your coaches and really trying to pick (up) as much information you can on the fly.' Bergeron noted he was willing to not only ask questions during his early years, but also listen to what he was being told because he wanted to get better and knew he had so much to learn. 'Trust others, trust teammates and coaches that they're there for you," Bergeron said. 'There's always room to grow. If you wanna improve fast and quickly, I think it's making sure you're able to be very coachable.' Advertisement Anthony is MLB's youngest player (21 years, 27 days) and made his big-league debut Monday night after being called up by Boston hours before first pitch. Even at his young age, WooSox manager Chad Tracy praised Anthony's maturity and how he handles everything with grace — which should provide Red Sox fans optimism that he'll have no problem listening to Bergeron's advice. 'I thoroughly enjoy sitting in that chair and watching him play baseball. Watching him navigate all the extra extracurricular that is around him is equally as enjoyable because there's so much surrounding him,' Tracy told MassLive's Matt Vautour. "It's fairly impressive to watch a guy at his age be able to do that. ... He's as equipped for it psychologically as anybody I've ever been around, and at his age, that is not common.' More Red Sox coverage Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Roman Anthony's eventful Red Sox debut includes 111 mph rocket, RBI, error that ‘just can't happen'
BOSTON — Many highly touted rookies have rather forgettable major league debuts in which they don't find themselves in the middle of the action. Roman Anthony's first game, however, was pretty eventful. After being called up to the majors just a couple hours before first pitch Monday, Anthony — the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball — saw it all in a 10-8 Red Sox loss. He ripped an 111.2 mph liner that resulted in a groundout, made a costly error as the Rays jumped ahead in the fifth, had his first career RBI despite going 0-for-4, reached base for the first time with a walk and was lifted for a pinch-hitter with the game hanging in the balance in the 11th inning. Advertisement Anthony, hitting fifth and playing right field (a position at which he had just four starts in Triple-A this season) didn't light up the box score. But his night was an eventful one. 'It was awesome,' he said about his debut. 'Unfortunately, we couldn't get a win but it was a good experience, getting it over with, the first one out of the way.' As Anthony came to the plate for his long-awaited first at-bat in the second inning, he got a loud ovation from the Fenway Park crowd. He then popped out to left field. Two innings later, he absolutely smoked a Shane Baz fastball up the middle, but the ball hit Baz and deflected third baseman Junior Caminero, who threw Anthony out. A sixth-inning at-bat was a strikeout. But the seventh inning brought a six-pitch walk as Anthony reached base for the first time and an RBI groundout up the middle in the ninth turned a 7-5 deficit into a one-run game. Anthony said he felt comfortable at the plate all night and his manager concurred. 'He was able to slow it down,' said Alex Cora. 'The walk, hit the ball hard, stayed up the middle, didn't try to do too much. It was a good first day.' Advertisement Defensively, Anthony had a rather costly slip-up in a somewhat unfamiliar position on what was a wet, misty night at Fenway. One batter after Jarren Duran bobbled a ball in left and allowed Tampa Bay's second run to score in the fifth, Anthony let a Yandy Díaz single skid past him on the outfield grass, allowing Brandon Lowe to score from first and Díaz to get to third. The Rays went up, 3-0, but the Red Sox tied the game an inning later. 'Just can't happen,' Anthony said. 'It's one of those plays, I've dealt with that skip a million times in my career. It's tough when you lose a game like that and you feel like that's the reason why you lost, little things like that.' Anthony's night came to a premature end when Cora — for the second time in the game — pinch-hit for one of Boston's top prospects with a right-handed journeyman. In the bottom of the sixth, Cora subbed in Romy Gonzalez for the left-handed Marcelo Mayer against southpaw Garrett Cleavinger and was rewarded when Gonzalez tied the game with a two-run, opposite-field double. Cora had let Anthony, another lefty, face Cleavinger but pulled him for Rob Refsnyder against rookie left-hander Ian Seymour in the 11th. Refsnyder worked a leadoff walk but Boston unable to close the gap and lost. 'They've never been pinch-hit (for) in the minors,' Cora acknowledged. 'This is what we do here. There's gonna be lefties that we're going to hit for them. They're gonna pinch-hit for other guys. We've got some good pinch-hitters here. Romy, that's his job, and Ref. We'll pick and choose. But they understand.' Advertisement Anthony's first MLB hit will come soon, perhaps as soon as Tuesday night against Ryan Pepiot. He felt like there were some things to build on at the end of a chaotic Monday he'll never forget. 'I thought I swung at good pitches,' he said. 'Unfortunately, some of those balls couldn't skip up the middle and drive some runs in. I felt like I did a good job of putting the bat on the ball and getting guys over.' More Red Sox coverage Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Why MLB insider thinks it's ‘very unlikely' Roman Anthony will be Rookie of the Year
Roman Anthony has played just two games in MLB after being called up by the Boston Red Sox earlier this week. But it hasn't stopped fans and analysts from talking about his chances at being named the American League Rookie of the Year. Advertisement But if you ask FanSided's Robert Murray, he thinks it's a long shot because of Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson. 'At this point, we have to call it like it is: It's very unlikely that Anthony wins AL Rookie of the Year considering 1. How well Wilson has played and 2. That Anthony was called up two months into the season,' the MLB insider wrote. In 64 games for the A's, Wilson is batting .366 with eight home runs and 38 RBI. The 23-year-old has been out of the lineup for the past two games with hamstring due to hamstring tightness. It's unclear how much time he'll miss. As for Anthony, he collected his first MLB hit — a two-run double — on Tuesday in Boston's win against the Tampa Bay Rays. Advertisement And while it will be difficult, Murray mapped out one way it's possible Anthony could at least be in the discussion. 'If he plays every day, and has the type of impact the Red Sox believe he can, then anything is possible, and I could see Anthony warranting some consideration,' Murray wrote. Red Sox manager Alex Cora explained this week that Anthony might not play every day because he wants to sit him against left-handed pitching even though baseball's No. 1 prospect hit .361 average with one home run, four doubles and a .955 OPS against lefties in Triple-A this season. 'The lefties here are real lefties,' Cora said. 'There's stuff here. Especially the guys in the bullpen. I truly believe that if you've got stuff, you're going to be here, you're not going to be in Triple-A or Double-A. So what they see here is different. Advertisement 'I think the gap is big. It's very big. When you play a team six times a week and you're constantly moving guys up and down, the good ones are here,' he continued. 'It gets to a point down there — I'm not saying it's what they did, I think they're very talented and they've earned the right to be in the big leagues — but there's a big gap.' More Red Sox coverage Read the original article on MassLive.