LEADING OFF

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals great Bob Gibson is fighting pancreatic cancer.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the 83-year-old Hall of Famer was diagnosed with the cancer several weeks ago and revealed the news Saturday to the other living Hall of Famers.

Gibson’s longtime agent, Dick Zitzmann, told the PostDispatch that Gibson has visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and has been hospitalized in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, for the past two weeks. Zitzmann said chemotherapy is likely to begin today in Omaha.

The newspaper said the news became public Saturday night when Hall of Famer Jack Morris, broadcasting a Minnesota Twins game, spoke of it, having received his notification. The Cardinals’ front office also was notified.

Gibson was 251-174 with a 2.91 ERA in 17 seasons with the Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. The right-hander led St. Louis to World Series titles in 1964 and 1967, and the National League pennant in 1968. He was 7-2 in nine World Series starts.

NOT FORGOTTEN: A moment of silence was held before Sunday’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and visiting San Francisco Giants honoring three ironworkers who were killed when a 567-foot-tall crane known as “Big Blue” toppled over on July 14, 1999, during the construction of Miller Park. Jeff Wischer, William DeGrave and Jerome Starr were killed in the accident. They are memorialized on a plaque outside Miller Park, which opened in 2001, a year later than originally planned.