Reprinted from The New Haven Register © Copyright 2008
July 13, 2008

By David Borges, Register Staff

Craig Breslow made his way across the field at Fenway Park on a recent afternoon, exchanging greetings with ex-teammate Jason Varitek before taking a seat in the visitors' dugout.

He was upbeat, happy, seemingly perfectly content with his career path — and why not? Waived by the Red Sox just before the end of spring training, then virtually ignored for two months after being picked up by the Cleveland Indians, Breslow seems to have found a perfect home with the Minnesota Twins.

Claimed off waivers by the Twins on May 29 after being designated for assignment by Cleveland, Breslow immediately found himself thrust into the fire two nights later, in the seventh inning of a tie game against the Yankees. It was welcome duty for Breslow, who went great swaths of time — 13 days at one point, 11 days another, 10 another — wasting away in the Indians' bullpen.

"I feel like I didn't get an opportunity," he admitted. "In my eyes, why not give somebody a chance before you give up on them? If I would have gotten a sustained opportunity to pitch and didn't do the job, then I could swallow being designated. But having thrown basically once every two weeks, it's hard to get a real objective look at how I can pitch."

Breslow retired all five Yankee batters he faced in his Twins' debut — three by strikeout — and has been a consistent force out of the Minnesota’s bullpen ever since.

In his first 11 outings with the Twins, Breslow didn't allow a single run and gave up just three hits — all in one June 3 appearance against Baltimore. That ended this past week, when he gave up two runs on a hit and a walk in an 18-5 blowout loss at Fenway. Otherwise, his 1.46 ERA as a Twin is particularly sweet for Breslow, the diminutive left-hander out of Yale via Trumbull — the first ex-Yalie major-leaguer since Ron Darling — who has always overcome being called too small, too short, too ... something.

"I've been pitching well, I've been pitching regularly," he said, "and it's allowed me to get comfortable and get good, consistent work."

And yet, Breslow’s best work is still ahead of him. And it has nothing to do with striking out Jason Giambi in a tight spot.

On Nov. 8, about a week after the World Series — and, Breslow hopes, the Twins' season — comes to an end, Breslow’s newly-founded Strike 3 Foundation will hold it first major fund-raising event. The First Pitch Celebrity Gala at Woodbridge Country Club figures to feature some of the connections Breslow has made over his five seasons in the major leagues — two of them with the Red Sox — in an event that aims to raise some $50,000 towards pediatric cancer research.

"It's our first substantial event," said Breslow, who kicked off the Strike 3 Foundation with close friend Joe Lizza a few months ago. "We've (already) raised more than I expected we would, considering it's just been basically word-of-mouth through friends."

Indeed, in between his recent heavier workload out of the Twins' bullpen, Breslow has been on the phone with Lizza practically every waking of hour of every day, finding ways to raise money for the foundation. Proceeds go directly to CureSearch, a private company that distributes money to various oncology groups, including the Yale Cancer Center.

While Breslow has called upon his connections from both Yale and Major League Baseball, Lizza, a teacher at Danbury High, has done most of the legwork at home, soliciting local businesses in Connecticut.

"Whatever it takes to get it done," said Lizza.

Added Breslow: "I've been wanting to do something for a long time. It's a way for me to give back."

Family Ties

Indeed, the impetus behind Breslow's interest in cancer research stems from the events in his life when he was a 12-year-old growing up in Trumbull. His sister Lesley, a 14-year-old Trumbull High freshman at the time, discovered a lump in her neck that doctors at first believed was benign. A biopsy soon revealed, however, that she had thyroid cancer.

"The word 'cancer' has such a bad meaning to it," said Abe Breslow, Lesley and Craig's father, "and when it hits you, it's devastating. Especially with a child, I don't think there's anything more devastating."

Abe and his wife, Ann, tried to shield Craig from the situation as much as possible. But eventually, he was brought up to speed.

"The impact that something like that has is pretty drastic," Craig noted. "When you're 12 years old, you're worried about being the cool kid in sixth grade, you're not worried about your sister having this scary disease."

Fortunately, doctors assured the Breslows that it was a very curable form of cancer. After the tumor was removed, Lesley was due to begin radiation treatment about a month later. But when she went in for her first dosage, the doctor reported that the surgeon had removed everything, and no radiation or chemotherapy was necessary. She lost her voice and spent a while recuperating at home, but by the start of her sophomore year, she was perfectly fine.

"I'm on medication for the rest of my life, but I'll definitely take that," Lesley said. "I have to say I'm pretty lucky."

While the entire situation could have been a lot worse, it left a distinct impression on Craig. In fact, after an all-state career as both a soccer and baseball player at Trumbull High, Craig elected to go to Yale — the only school to which he applied — in part to play baseball, but in part to get into orthopedics. He graduated in 2002 with a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and plans to return at some point — hopefully in the rather distant future — for medical school.

"Obviously baseball is working out right now, and I don't have any plans right now of doing anything else," he said. "But this foundation allows me to be active in the field, a little bit more indirectly than sitting in a medical school classroom, but it allows me to more closely follow cancer research funding, legislation, some of the advancements in treatment, those kind of things."

Giving Back

Pediatric cancer hits home with Lizza, as well.

"There are a couple of kids I know who are 12, 13 that have cancer," he said. "I teach some of these kids in baseball, know their parents. When you see something like that, it really motivates me and it motivates Craig to raise awareness and money for a really good cause."

The Strike 3 Foundation has no administrative overhead; the money raised goes directly to CureSearch.

"Craig is doing this because he's my friend," said Lizza, a Derby native who played baseball at the University of New Haven. "It's about us raising money."

Added Lesley, who just returned from a honeymoon cruise on the Mediterranean (she kept up with Craig's games on the Internet): "I think he looks at it more as, 'my sister got through it, I need to do what I can with what I've been given to help other people get through it."

Lesley has done the same — she's on the board of directors for the Susan Fund, a Fairfield County-based fund that allocates college scholarship money to cancer survivors and helped get her through four years of Indiana University and two years of grad school at Fordham.

Breslow is back home in Trumbull for the next few days for the All-Star break. A Home Run Derby fund-raiser at Trumbull High — in which Breslow would have pitched the final round — fell through, but there's still plenty of work to be done for the foundation.

Then, he'll return to Minnesota, where he hopes to continue to form a strong lefty combination with Dennys Reyes out of the Twins' bullpen.

Breslow hopes to still be pitching in October. In November, he'll make his most significant performance yet.