ARLINGTON, Texas -- Services for Chicago Cubs second baseman Steve Macko will be Wednesday.
Macko died Sunday in an Arlington hospital where he was undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 27.
Macko, son of Texas Rangers equipment manager Joe Macko, played part of two seasons for the Cubs and starred at Baylor University, where he was an All-Southwest Conference selection.
Macko was injured in a collision while trying to complete a double play at Wrigley Field on Aug. 5, 1980. Six weeks later he checked into an Arlington hospital for treatment of a swelling that was assumed related to the collision. Doctors discovered he had cancer.
Macko was carried on the Cubs' roster for most of last season, according to his father, who said his son 'lived to play baseball.'
In an agreement with other teams in the league, Macko was placed on the Cubs' disabled list last season and alternated being in Arlington for treatment and sitting on the bench.
He had been hospitalized since last Wednesday, when he complained of feeling weak.
'I've known him ever since he was a little shaver. I've watched him grow up and I know he was the apple of his father's eye,' said Dick Butler, supervisor of American League umpires and a family friend.
'It's just a shame for a young fellow with the talent he had to be lost at such a young age and never get to take full advantage of it.'
Macko was drafted by the Cubs after college and came up through their minor league system, playing at Midland, Texas and Wichita, Kan.
Macko's father was a minor league player for 15 seasons during the 1940s and 1950s, and was a home run king in the Texas League, leading the Dallas Eagles with 36 homers in 1956.
Despite averaging 24 home runs a season for the first 12 years of his minor league career, the elder Macko never made it to the majors, making his son's promotion to the Cubs somewhat of a father-son triumph.
'I always figured that since I didn't make it, at least I had brought someone up who would play in the big leagues,' the elder Macko was once quoted as saying.
Macko is survived by his father; mother, Dorothy; sisters Karen and Linda; and brother Mike.
Services are set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Moore's Funeral Home in Arlington.
Chicago Cubs second baseman Steve Macko died Sunday at an Arlington hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 27.
Macko, son of Texas Rangers equipment manager Joe Macko, played part of two seasons for the Cubs and starred at Baylor University, where he was an All-Southwest Conference selection.
Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Moore's Funeral Home in Arlington.
Macko was injured in a collision while trying to complete a double play at Wrigley Field on Aug. 5, 1980. Six weeks later he checked into an Arlington hospital for treatment of a swelling that was assumed related to the collision. Doctors discovered he had cancer.
Macko was carried on the Cubs' roster for most of last season, according to his father, who said his son 'lived to play baseball.'
In an agreement with other teams in the league, Macko was placed on the Cubs' disabled list last season and alternated returning to Arlington for treatment and sitting on the bench.
He had been hospitalized since last Wednesday, when he complained of feeling weak.
'I've known him ever since he was a little shaver. I've watched him grow up and I know he was the apple of his father's eye,' Dick Butler, supervisor of American League umpires, a family friend, said Sunday.
'It's just a shame for a young fellow with the talent he had to be lost at such a young age and never get to take full advantage of it.'
Macko was drafted by the Cubs after college and came up through their minor league system, playing at Midland, Texas and Wichita, Kan.
Macko's father was a minor league player for 15 seasons during the 1940s and 1950s, and was a home run king in the Texas League, leading the Dallas Eagles with 36 homers in 1956.
Despite averaging 24 home runs a season for the first 12 years of his minor league career, the elder Macko never made it to the majors, making his son'spromotion to the Cubs somewhat of a father-son triumph.
'I always figured that since I didn't make it, at least I had brought someone up who would play in the big leagues,' the elder Macko was once quoted as saying.
Macko is survived by his father; mother, Dorothy; sisters Karen and Linda; and brother Mike.
