From StarTribune.com
Sad note
Popular Twins minor league coach Riccardo Ingram will not be present at spring training this year as he fights for his life a second time because of the return of brain cancer.
Ingram, 48, is being treated in Atlanta, which is not far from his home in Lilburn, Ga., and where his family can keep an eye on him.
`I don’t think anything is impossible with Riccardo,” Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said. “He’s overcome a lot of odds.”
In 2009, Ingram experienced pounding headaches that led to the discovery of Grade 4 glioblastoma in the front of his brain. At the time, 90-95 percent of people with that type of cancer die within a year. But Ingram underwent six weeks of radiation therapy and survived. The Twins helped out by naming him a roving hitting instructor between Class AAA Rochester and Class AA New Britain. That allowed him to make visits to Duke University Medical Center for follow up care.
Ingram is scheduled to be the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League rookie team this season.
A fourth-round pick by the Tigers in 1987, Ingram played 12 games with the Tigers in 1994 and four with the Twins in 1995. He’s been coaching in the Twins farm system since 1998.
