Gibson steps to plate for those battling Parkinson's

"You're in this now! You've got a lot of work to do!" The gravelly voice was unmistakably Kirk Gibson.

- BILL PLASCHKE

NIC ANTAYA For the Time KIRK GIBSON, a Parkinson's patient himself, will open his new center Oct. 6 in the Detroit area.

The object of his growl was a journalist who spent two years battling him on the Dodgers beat. Only this time, Gibby wasn't yelling at me. This time, he was cheering for me. ¶ "I'm fighting it, you gotta fight it! You gotta take it head-on, because this s― ain't going away!" Thirty-five years after we sparred in the Dodgers' clubhouse, Gibson and I have found ourselves on the same team. ¶ We both have Parkinson's Disease, and he spent much of a recent 45-minute phone call pushing me to battle the incurable illness the way he once battled a certain backdoor slider. ¶ "Is it fun being depressed? You cannot succumb!"

It's that time of year when folks talk about arguably the greatest moment in Dodger history, Gibson's one-legged, two-run homer against future Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley to win the World Series opener against the Oakland Athletics and spark the team to a 1988 championship.

For many, an indelible memory. But in many ways, he’s no longer the same Kirk Gibson.

In 2015, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement.

Today, his home-run gait around the bases would be wobbly, and his right fist pumps would be shaky, and afterward he might need help in the locker room buttoning his shirt.

But one thing that has remained powerful is his fire.

"You battle through it!"

He is battling it such that this fall, he will hit another monumental home run, this one far more impactful than any previous October blast.

On Oct. 6, in a gleaming building located in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, Gibson will formally open the Kirk Gibson Center for Parkinson's Wellness.

For those like me, heaven.