NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The family of Ron Hunt, a favorite of Mets fans back in the 1960s, has started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the former ballplayer's medical treatment.
There's no question Hunt is tough. The 12-year Major League Baseball veteran was hit by a pitch 243 times during his career.
"That was how he wanted to play the game. He wanted to play it hard," his daughter, Tracy Hunt Quinn, said. "In his mind his job was to get on base and it was in any way that he possibly could."
Now, the 80-year-old has Parkinson's Disease. He has tremors, slurred speech and a loss of balance.
"Every two, three days he's on the ground," said Hunt Quinn, who is trying to raise money for a homeopathic treatment for her father. "What I'm trying to do, what my family is trying to do, is just give him a quality of life."
According to the GoFundMe page, "There are costly new treatments that Ron has taken, and they have helped – but he desperately needs more and lacks the funds."
Hunt played his first four seasons with the New York Mets and in 1964 he became the first Mets player to start in an All-Star game. He later went on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Montreal Expos and the St. Louis Cardinals.
"He never wanted to be traded from the Mets and that's where his favorite fans were," Hunt said.
The GoFundMe page has so far raised more than $36,000.