Re: Pitching Abuse

Cubs Now! is one of the better new Cubs blogs i have noticed since the begining of the year.

His post about pitching abuse is the classic arguement. Players of the past did it and didnt have a problem so why cant pitchers today?

Sounds simple but will never happen in baseball again. Nolan Ryan was the last of the old war horses. He was the last of the generation that grew up under the mentality of pitching all the time, and finishing what they started. This was something they have been doing since childhood. So physically they were prepared to do it through out their career.

It is impossible to step into major league baseball right now and say your going to throw 150-160 pitches a start and pitch 270 innings. Their bodies have never even come close to that kind of physical strain and will crack under the abuse.

The reliance on the closer changed baseball forever, much like the 3 point line changed basketball forever. Once you cross that line you cant go back.

In order for baseball to get back to pitchers throwing nearly 300 innings they need to start the physical training down in little league. Right their you run into a massive road block. For every Fergie Jenkins or Nolan Ryan a slew of youngsters suffered arm injuries due to over work at a young age. This is why in little league you can only pitch your youngsters 15 innings max per week.

You can say the life of a pitcher was cruel back in the day because only the strongest survived. For many years Sandy Koufax pitched with an arm injury, yet he still posted fantastic numbers. He had to finally retire because he couldnt take the pain anymore. This problem is solved for todays athletes in the form of Tommy John Surgery. To be a pitcher back then was like going through a meat grinder.

I think in the end he totally gets why they are great...

In fact, maybe great pitchers are great precisely because they can effectively pitch a lot of innings and throw a lot of pitches per game.

Its because thats the way they were raised. Pitchers today are coddled and protected for the most part. Whether thats good or bad is debatable.

If Kerry Wood grew up in the 1940's/50's and did exactly what he did in his first year for the Cubs, that would of been his last season in baseball. He would be a minor foot note in history. Great arm, got injured, too bad.

I think today's baseball allows players to come back after that, even though surgery is the biggest reason why. Lower pitch counts and less work help keep players like Wood in baseball and help them make a career out of it. I think thats why baseball phased in closers and bullpen, because they were missing out an alot of great arms that otherwise couldn't handle the stress of going 300-400 innings a year. Would you even know who Eric Gagne was if he pitched back then?