I don’t get it. From where I sit (as a woefully out-of-shape couch potato), even I’m tougher than these guys.
Lou Gehrig was championed as “The Iron Horse” for never being out of the lineup for a single game for a then-record 2,130 consecutive games. He played with multiple sprains, pulled muscles, dislocations, concussions, and even numerous broken bones! (Can you imagine how much it must hurt to catch a baseball the second baseman fires at you at around 90 mph when you’ve got multiple broken bones in your hand??)
The great Mickey Mantle (photo, NY Daily News)
The great Mickey Mantle played almost his entire professional career with severe pain. Like Gehrig, he played with pulled muscles, sprains, and broken bones. The Mick even played 140+ games in two consecutive years when he had two major knee surgeries. If Mickey had stayed out of the lineup due to injuries the way players do today, heck, he probably wouldn’t have played in more than 10 or 12 games a year.
These days, if a player feels a little “sore,” he’s on the 10-day injured list. If God forbid, he strains or pulls a muscle. He might be out for a month or more – maybe half the season. Now, sure, I can understand how a pitcher with a pulled muscle in his shoulder shouldn’t be playing. But, no, I don’t understand how a regular position player has to miss 20 games because he pulled a calf muscle or feels a little soreness in his forearm.
I mean, come on – these guys are professional athletes, usually in the top physical condition and much stronger than the average guy who might limp to work a little if he had a groin pull. But they can’t play with “soreness” or even the slightest little muscle pull or strain?
Seriously, what’s the deal? Well, after thinking it over a bit, I suspect that, like most things in professional sports, it’s all about the money. The reason you put a guy on the 10-day injured list because he stubbed his toe is that you’re obligated to pay him $10 million a year for the next five years. So, as the guy writing the checks, you don’t dare take even the slightest chance that a minor injury might somehow become a major injury. And that’s why we don’t get to see our favorite players play in maybe 30 or 40 of the 162 games every year because … they stubbed their toe … have a hamstring muscle that’s a little sore … or their hand hurts because the second baseman throws the ball really hard.
In contrast, I think about guys like Joel Berry, the point guard for North Carolina’s 2017 NCAA national championship basketball team, who played all through the Final Four–running up and down the court, jumping up and down to grab rebounds or take shots–on a severely sprained ankle. (And if you’ve ever had a nasty sprained ankle, you know how much it hurts even to try to walk on it gingerly.)
I think about Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. Lombardi would have instantly traded any guy who came up and said, “I can’t play today, Coach – I pulled a muscle.”
Sheesh! No more iron men these days, at least not since Cal Ripken Jr. retired, anyway. By the way, I don’t have a Lou Gehrig-like list of injuries for Cal, but I guarantee you this: to play in 2,632 straight games, Ripken Jr. played a lot of games with serious injuries. These days? All those big, strong guys who can hit a baseball 450 feet…. Heck! Players on my daughter’s softball team are tougher. The difference is that the players on my daughter’s softball team aren’t getting paid $10 million a year.
Here’s a thought to consider. If you’re getting paid $10 million a year, then maybe you could manage to grit your teeth and play with a little pain … like, say, if your finger’s a little sore because you accidentally shut a kitchen cupboard door on it.
Hey, just a thought.
