Longtime ESPN Star Bill Plaschke Announces Serious Health Diagnosis

Bill Plaschke, a famed sports journalist for the Los Angeles Times since 1987 and longtime panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, shared some unfortunate health news on Sunday.

In a column for the Times, Plaschke announced that he has Parkinson's. The 67-year-old writer was diagnosed with the progressive neurodegenerative disorder in 2021.

"I’ve got Parkinson’s, and it hurts to even say it. I’m still mobile, still active, I don’t have the trademark tremors that distinguish the famously afflicted Michael J. Fox or the late Muhammad Ali but, damn it, I’ve got it," Plaschke wrote.

"I was diagnosed four years ago after complaining of weakness in my right arm. That weakness has disappeared, but it’s a constant struggle to keep everything else from slowly going to hell.

"Every day it feels like I’ve just run a marathon. I move well, my balance is fine, but I’m always tight, always creaking. The amount of medication required to keep me active is so immense, my pills come in gallon jugs and I spend entire Dodger games trying to discreetly swallow them in the press box."

Plaschke's column also details his participation in Kaizen Kinetics, a boxing class in Monrovia, California for adults afflicted with Parkinson's. 

Despite his diagnosis, Plaschke remains active in his job and outside of it.

"I have Parkinson’s. But, by God, it doesn’t have me," he wrote.

Parkinson's is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time, per the Mayo Clinic. The disease is marked by tremors, stiffness, changes in movement and speech and other motor and non-motor symptoms.

Obviously, being open about his battle was a tough decision for Plaschke and one that he worked toward for a long time. We're glad he had the courage to speak out, and wish him the best in his fight.

Hopefully, he can serve as an inspiration for others afflicted with this terrible condition.