Major League Baseball Players with Type 1 Diabetes

T1D Major League Baseball (MLB) Athletes

Garrett Mitchell

Rookie center fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, twenty-six-year-old Garrett Mitchell, has lived with type 1 diabetes (T1D) since he was nine years old. In addition to being dubbed “the fastest man in baseball” by the New York Times, Mitchell seeks to empower other athletes with diabetes by proudly displaying and talking about his condition. 

His social media bios disclose “type 1 diabetic” beside his team name, and he wears an insulin pump during every game. In a recent Instagram post from 2023, Mitchell poses with a fan holding a sign reading, “I live on baseball and insulin.” In his caption, he expresses how life with diabetes never stopped him from pursuing his love of baseball. 

“Even though I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of nine, my lifelong dream to play in the #MLB came true through hard work and perseverance,” the post read. 

Ron Santo

Ron Santo is a baseball legend with multiple rights. During his fifteen-year career playing for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, Santos hit 342 home runs and won five Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012, two years after his passing, Santos has become a household name for many baseball history fans. 

In addition to a historical career, Santo made history as the first major league baseball player with type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed with T1D as a young adult at age 18, Santo played the majority of his professional season living with type 1 diabetes. But, he wasn’t open about his condition until 1971, well into his career. 

T1D stigma, lower life expectancy, and greater potential health complications at the time may have led to Santo’s decision to keep his condition to himself, as knowledge and scientific advancements around the disease were not as advanced as they are now. Not wanting outsiders to negate his athletic ability due to his condition, Santo did not go public about living with type 1 diabetes until about three years before his retirement. 

In a 2012 interview with Fox News, Santo talked about living with type 1 as a professional athlete in the 1960s and 1970s. “I couldn’t tell where I was,” Santo said. “I never had a glucometer to tell me what I was before I went out there or what I was after. I was either too high, or I could feel I was low.” 

Following his choice to state his condition publicly, Santos went on to dedicate the majority of his life to funding research and support for those who shared his diagnosis, raising $65 million for Breakthrough T1D (formally known as JDRF). In 2002, Santos was named the Breakthrough T1D person of the year. 

 Now, Santo’s wife, Vicki Santo, has continued her husband’s passion for diabetes research and education. She runs the Ron and Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation, an organization dedicated to training and providing diabetic alert dogs for people with T1D. 

Sam Fuld

Next up, Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age ten. In an interview with the New York Times, Fuld expressed that having type 1 diabetes can benefit professional athletes who need to be in touch with their bodies and how they are physically feeling. 

“It is a giant pain in the rear end that requires a lot of constant care, maintenance, and patience,” Fuld said. “But ultimately, if you stay on top of it, you can use it to your advantage because you are going to be in tune with your body and what you put into it.” 

Fuld, who is no longer playing, is still involved with US baseball’s major leagues, working as the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Jason Johnson

Diagnosed at age 11, Jason Johnson is a right-handed pitcher who has played for eight different American major league teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers, among many more. 

In 2004, Johnson made history by becoming the first player to wear an insulin pump during a major league baseball game, an event that required Major League Baseball’s permission. This made New York Times headlines at the time and set a precedent for other type 1 diabetic players to accommodate their needs, on and off the field.

Brandon Morrow 

Pitcher Brandon Morrow has played for the Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, LA Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. Diagnosed in his senior year of high school, Morrow spent his entire professional career as a baseball player living with type 1 diabetes and would wear an insulin pump while he played in games. 

In 2008, while playing for the Seattle Mariners, Morrow’s fellow teammate Mark Lowe was also diagnosed with diabetes. 

Mark Lowe

Mark Lowe has pitched for six major league baseball teams, including the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Anaheim Angels and Detroit Tigers. Starting his professional season in 2006, Lowe was not diagnosed with diabetes until well into his career. 

In 2008, when Lowe was first diagnosed with diabetes, doctors at the time believed his condition to be type 2 diabetes. Lowe was 25 years old at the time, and some assumed, due to his age, that he couldn’t have type 1. 

But, right before the 2009 baseball season, Lowe was re-diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a diagnosis he shared with a teammate at the time, Brandon Morrow. In an interview with ESPN, Lowe described Morrow’s support during the early stages of his diagnosis. 

“There are a lot of things I have learned from him, such as how many units to give yourself when you’re at this level or that,” Lowe said. “It’s good to have someone here who’s been through it for a long time.” 

Interesting Fact: Recent studies from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  indicate that up to 40% of adults with type 1 diabetes are misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes. These dangerous miscalculations may lead to hospitalization with severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), diabetic coma and even death.

Read here to understand the importance of proper testing and the potential consequences of diabetes misdiagnosis. 

Bill Gullickson

Bill Gullickson is a former major league baseball player who played for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers. Gullickson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1980 during his rookie season playing for the Montreal Expos. In an interview for the book “Au jeu/Play Ball: The 50 Greatest Games in the History of the Montreal Expos,” Gullickson expressed not wanting his diagnosis to stop his passion for competing in baseball. 

“I decided that I’m not going to let this ruin what I have worked for,” Gullickson said in 1980. 

Outside of the U.S., Gullickson played in Canada and Japan, the second of which left a lasting impact on both Gullickson and the country itself. Due to his time playing baseball in Japan, the Japan Diabetes Mellitus Society (JADMC) developed the “Gullickson Award,” which honors people with type 1 diabetes who positively impact society. The award was created in 1998 and is still presented each year. 

Dave Hollins

Diagnosed with type 1 at age 27, Dave Hollins has played for various major league teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners and Anaheim Angels. 

Hollins, who started his major league career in 1990, was diagnosed with T1D in the middle of his season, right after playing in — and winning — the World Series for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1993. 

 In a 1997 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Terry Collins, Hollins’ Anaheim Angels manager, described Hollins’ resilience in playing long hours on the field.

 “I think it’s inspiring to watch how he plays the game every day in his condition,” Collins said. “It’s tough because diabetes is not a rare disease, but unless you know how difficult it is to handle, you don’t know how hard it is for him.”