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Relief pitcher Liam Hendricks has successfully fought back from non-Hodgkin lymphoma after several years of success with the Chicago White Sox and is now making his comeback with the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, after pitching in just 11 games for the Red Sox, some of the team’s fans have started to make death threats against him and his wife.
After missing almost all of the 2023 season due to cancer and elbow inflammation, Liam Hendricks then lost the entire 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Despite not playing, he was still Boston’s nominee for Major League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award which is given annually to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.”
So far in 2025, Liam Hendricks has pitched 11.1 innings and sports a 5.56 ERA. On Wednesday, he earned the loss to the Mets after coming on in relief of starter Garrett Crochet in the sixth inning and giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning.
After the game, the 36-year-old from Australia says he and his wife were subjected to numerous hate comments and death threats from Red Sox fans.
“Just as an FYI: Threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel. You need help,” Hendriks wrote on his Instagram story. “Leaving comments to tell me to commit suicide and how you wish I died of cancer is disgusting and vile.
“Maybe you should take a step back and reevaluate your life’s purpose before hiding behind a screen attacking players and their family,” Hendriks continued. “Whether you do it from your ‘fake accounts” or are dumb enough to do it from your real account. I think I speak for all players who have had to deal with this in their career when I say: Enough is enough.”
Interestingly, after allowing two runs in her first appearance of the season, Liam Hendricks produced eight straight scoreless appearances for the Red Sox and had an ERA of 1.80. It’s just in the last two outings that he has struggled to get outs. Considering that he hadn’t pitched in the big leagues in almost two years, that is certainly to be expected. Just not, apparently, by some very cowardly and misguided Red Sox fans.