"Conor Jackson had a big bat and a bright future. But after he contracted a rare illness in 2009 while playing with the Arizona Diamondbacks he was never quite the same."

"Last year another major league baseball player – Ike Davis of the New York Mets – was diagnosed with the same thing.

Valley Fever is on the rise in Arizona. And that could become a problem for Major League Baseball's  "Cactus League" – spring training that brings fifteen teams and about 1,000 ballplayers to the Phoenix area from mid-February to late March. A majority of those players are battling for a spot on the major league roster, and an illness that saps your energy is not the way to make that happen."

Brian Bienkowski reports for The Daily Climate May 10, 2013. [2]