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Major league baseball got a shot in the arm as far as increased interest in the game this season when young pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg arrived on the scene in Washington. Attendance increased at every game in which Strasburg pitched, at home and on the road. Strasburg mania is now on hold, however, after he suffered an elbow injury requiring “Tommy John” surgery, which always requires a long, arduous rehabilitation period. Strasburg probably won’t pitch at all next season and baseball will certainly miss him. In the aftermath of the injury, the Nationals and Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, have defended the team’s excessive protection of Strasburg’s arm through strictly monitored pitch counts. Actually, I was astounded to read that Boras actually included written guarantees of limits on innings pitched in Strasburg’s contract during negotiations. Nationals manager Jim Riggleman, meet your new defacto pitching coach, Scott Boras. Do you think that agents’ influence on the game has reached a new high (or low)?

Let’s take a look at a little baseball history. The complete game in major league baseball now seems as rare as the no-hitter, and is considered as great of an accomplishment. When talking about complete games, you have to discount the old “dead ball” era in the early days of the game. Pitchers like Cy Young and Walter Johnson were throwing what amounted to a rock as a single ball would almost always be used for the entire game. In baseball’s record book, all top twenty on the career complete games list pitched in the late 19th century. But as late as the 1950s, pitchers were expected to complete their starts, and players like Warren Spahn, Whitey Ford, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson took pride in it. Nolan Ryan battled problems with blisters early in his career, but he once threw over 200 pitches in a 13 inning game, and was a horse his whole career. Jim Kaat, a rubber-armed southpaw who pitched in the majors for 25 years, always talked about throwing the ball every day whether he was scheduled to start or not, and that as a youth he was constantly playing catch or throwing a baseball. Here is an excerpt from a column written by Dylan Murphy from Pardon The Opinion, that I think hits the nail on the head on this subject, and Strasburg’s situation:

“From the outside, pitch counts appear to be the ultimate weapon to ward off injury and promote longevity. Fewer pitches equals better mechanics because of fresher arms. It is said that if teams do not attempt to “protect” these arms, they will tire, lose effectiveness, and become extremely prone to injury. I choose to look at it from the flip side. Let the kid pitch. In college, Strasburg routinely threw complete games, including 4 during his senior year and multiple 8 inning starts. But his reduced pitch count in both the minors and majors will train his arm to do exactly that: pitch less innings. Once his pitch limit is lifted, he will have to readjust to more innings and pitches. Four man rotations, complete games and 200 innings represented the staple of 20th century baseball. In 12 out of 14 complete seasons, Bob Gibson threw at least 200 innings, including 2 seasons of 300 innings. In 3 out of his 4 final seasons, Sandy Koufax threw over 300 innings. Of Tom Seaver’s 15 200+ inning seasons, only 4 dipped below 250. Hopefully you see my point. Pitchers were not only accustomed, but also expected, to pitch until their arms fell off. And for a century, it worked. The disabled list was for babies. Pitching 7 innings was a failure. Practical evidence proved that pitchers could in fact handle many innings because it was the norm. But the norm now, thanks to modern medicine, is to limit innings in the interest of longevity. But ironically, it has done exactly the opposite.”

I couldn’t agree more, and I think that the fact that 2 dinosaurs pitching in today’s game who are still allowed to finish their starts, Roy Halladay and C.C. Sabathia, never seem to get hurt is further evidence that babying today’s pitchers only enhances their chances of injury. Pro football has a similar situation. The more rules they put in to protect quarterbacks, the more quarterbacks get hurt. Of course they do, they’re not forced to endure any contact so when they are contacted their bodies aren’t accustomed to it and they wind up injured. Strasburg’s injury may be just a fluke, but baseball needs to take a look at the way pitchers are handled. Don’t even get me started on closers, who pitch one inning at the most, then aren’t available because they need “rest” if they happen to be needed to close out games 2 nights in a row.