HOUSTON, Tex. — Dr. Susan Chon is a professor of dermatology and director of the Skin Cancer Screening and Education Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Tex. MD Anderson is one of the top medical facilities in the world in dealing with cancer.

Dr. Chon explains how baseball coaches and players can protect themselves from the sun in this special question and answer session with Collegiate Baseball.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL: Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell has run the numbers and has been in the sun 45,000 hours during his 30-year coaching career. Many veteran baseball coaches have similar exposure hours. Because people have not protected themselves adequately against the sun, they have faced serious skin damage with pre-cancerous lesions taken off and even died from melanoma cancer. What is a great strategy for minimizing the damaging effects of the sun for baseball players and coaches in amateur and pro baseball?

SUSAN CHON: In previous years prior to COVID-19 during spring training with the Houston Astros in Florida, we did screenings of players and coaches in their organization and educated people about the damaging effects of the sun to exposed sun. A lot of NCAA sports are outdoors. We try to impress on athletes and coaches to do whatever they can to minimize the sun exposure on the most sensitive areas such as the face, arms, hands, ears and neck. You can’t avoid sun exposure with practices and games being outdoors. But they can put on zinc oxide based sun screen. It doesn’t sting, and there are no fumes because it is not a chemical. It is water resistant and stays in place easily. If people can put this on their face, ears, neck as well as their arms and front and back of hands, it will help tremendously. We also do a lot with the PGA tour as well.

CB: Dan McDonnell firmly believes that the top of baseball caps offer little protection against the harmful rays of the sun. All you have to do is look through the top, underside of a baseball cap in the sun. You will see light coming through holes. He backs up his claim by saying that too many coaches in baseball have had pre-cancerous growths on their skull taken off. Is the skull protected enough with typically baseball caps that are worn by players and coaches in the game?

CHON: If the main portion of baseball caps are made of a solid material and not mesh, athletes and coaches are protected to an extent. If a mesh material is used, then yes, you will be able to see through it easily. The most important thing is using UPF 50 clothing and hats if possible. A lot of the jerseys used are probably thick enough. In golf, players have been using Solar Sleeves when they practice. It essentially is thin, stretchable UPF 50 rated material that covers open arms all the way from the wrist to the mid to upper arm. You can get them in any color. Golfers wear their regular golf shirt and then put on Solar Sleeves for sun protection. When they are finished with their round of golf, they walk off the course and pull off their Solar Sleeves. Unlike sunscreen, there is no mess, no grease or tacky feeling on the skin. Some golfers and caddies really like it. There are golfers who feel quite comfortable with them over their arms because their skin doesn’t burn. This material blocks the sun the entire time they are out golfing. It definitely offers sun protection that doesn’t sweat off. Baseball players and coaches can easily use these sleeves which offers sun protection when they are in the sun. You can find them at www.amazon.com

CB: Many years ago, it was popular in baseball for outfielders to wear flip sunglasses. Then it became common for outfielders to wear regular sunglasses in blinding sun areas when catching fly balls. Phil Nevin, the first player picked in the 1992 MLB Draft from Cal. St. Fullerton, was a trend setter. He began wearing Oakley Radar EV sunglasses when he played in the field and also batted. It quickly caught on. You also began seeing a lot of coaches wearing sunglasses. Should coaches and players be wearing sunglasses to protect the eyes from the sun and possibly see better at the same time? Different colored lenses are better suited for different sun conditions.

CHON: Sunglasses are big in professional golf. The name a lot of pro golfers utilize is called Maui Jim which has a lot of lens colors which cuts the green and allows you to see balls better. Plus, they are light weight. The Maui Jims are also polarized. They are excellent for outdoor activity. A lot of baseball players don’t use sunglasses because they may interfere with their game. I don’t know how coaches feel about players using sunglasses as well.

To read more of this story, purchase the Sept. 2, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE. The Sept. 2 edition includes three stories on the subject of Skin Cancer & Coaching. It includes the main report, a special feature about the University of Louisville’s Dan McDonnell and his skin protection advice after spending 45,000 hours in the sun over 30 years of coaching. In addition, we include a special question and answer session with one of the top dermatologists in the nation in Dr. Susan Chon of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Tex. who explains how to battle the sun with important tips, including clothing, protective sleeves and hats.

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Skin cancer can kill. Former Southern Illinois Head Coach Dan Callahan lost his life battling neurotropic melanoma skin cancer in 2010.

Gonzaga associate head baseball coach Danny Evans died last April at the age of 41 from stage 4 melanoma cancer.

Head Coach Paul Keyes of Virginia Commonwealth also died of skin cancer in 2012.

Florida Gulf Coast University baseball coach Dave Tollett received a big scare after a biopsy was performed on a large bump near his right nostril in 2012.

The biopsy revealed basil cell carcinoma. Tollett had the tumor removed and endured 15 stitches.

Over the years, thousands of veteran coaches have suffered serious skin damage and even died from being in the sun an insane number of hours over a lifetime as a coach.

Louisville Head Baseball Coach Dan McDonnell estimates that he has spent 45,000 hours in the sun during his 30-year coaching career.

Collegiate Baseball estimates that the typical college coach has played baseball from the age of 8-21 and has spent an additional 8,100 hours in the sun. 

When you add it up, veteran coaches with 30 years of experience have spent approximately 53,000 hours in the sun when adding their playing days to the number of years they have coached.

No wonder the skin of veteran coaches in outdoor sports looks leathery and damaged.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States.

Consider these important facts:

• According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.
• More than two people die of skin cancer in the U.S. every hour while more than 9,500 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every day.
• More people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year in the U.S. than all other cancers combined.
• More than 5,400 people worldwide die of non-melanoma skin cancer every month.
• An estimated 197,700 cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2022. An estimated 7,650 people will die of melanoma in 2022.
• On average, a person’s risk for melanoma doubles if they have had more than five sunburns. Just one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life.
• Regular outdoor use of an SPF 30 or higher sunscreen reduces the risk of developing melanoma by 50 percent.
• People who use sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher daily show 24 percent less skin aging than those who do not use sunscreen daily.
• An estimated 90 percent of skin aging is caused by the sun.
• Sun damage is cumulative. Only about 23 percent of lifetime exposure occurs by the age of 18.
• All skin cancers – basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma – are caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

The more years you are involved in the game of baseball, the greater the risk of skin cancer.

Since Collegiate Baseball was started in 1958, we have come in contact with thousands of veteran baseball coaches who have sustained serious skin damage since they work in the sun countless hours each year.

Of those, many have had cancerous or pre-cancerous lesions taken off their arms, face, neck and other body parts by freezing them with liquid nitrogen, surgically cutting out cancerous tissue, utilizing radiation or chemotherapy and also destroying skin cancer cells with a combination of laser light and drugs (see below for entire treatments).

In short, it can be hell going through such treatment.

Treat options for skin cancer and pre-cancerous skin lesions vary, depending on the size, type, depth and location of the lesions.

To read more of this story, purchase the Sept. 2, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE. The Sept. 2 edition includes three stories on the subject of Skin Cancer & Coaching. It includes the main report, a special feature about the University of Louisville’s Dan McDonnell and his skin protection advice after spending 45,000 hours in the sun over 30 years of coaching. In addition, we include a special question and answer session with one of the top dermatologists in the nation in Dr. Susan Chon of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Tex. who explains how to battle the sun with important tips, including clothing, protective sleeves and hats.