OT - They don't make them like that anymore
 

I've got a 1935 scorebook that has the last amatuer baseball tournament that Bob Feller pitched in before signing with the Indians. In the final two days of the tournament, 16 year old Feller, playing against grown men, pitched two complete games and likely threw over 300 pitches!

On 8/24/35 Feller pitched for his Farmer's Union team and beat Hawkeye Cher Burl 10-1. He faced 37 batters, struck out 18 and walked 2. The next day, on 8/25/35 he beat Cascade 4-2, facing 39 batters with 13 strike outs and 4 walks. Considering that Feller was somewhat of a wild man (he lead the American League in walks in 8 different seasons), it isn't hard to figure that he threw an average of 4 or maybe 5 pitches to each batter (surely he had high pitch counts on all the strike outs and walks, plus a few foul balls thrown in). That equates to 300 to 380 pitches inside of 24 hours from a 16 year old kid that probably threw 95 mph at that time! Talk about child abuse! Just think if a coach did that now!!

It just amazes me how hard throwers like Feller and Ryan and Johnson (Walter or Randy, take your pick) can throw for so many years without their arm falling off. It's even harder though imagining doing it on very little rest. I mean I can see it with a Jamie Moyer or a Niekro but....

Rob M.

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That's funny. Just the other day they made a big deal on TV about how the Dodger's reliever Broxton was being overused because he had to throw to 5 hitters in their loss to the Cardinals. Then I see this. Wow, times have changed.

It troubles me to no end. Something is different or something is wrong. Either our conditioning sucks, our technique sucks, we far over-protect our pitchers, they just didnt really throw that hard or something else....It's probably a combination of several things, but Ive never comfortably pieced together why pitchers from different eras were so dramatically different with usage.

the difference between now and then is 1) they throw alot harder now which puts extra strain and 2) they throw alot more variety of pitches and these are not easy on the joints as the motion of the arm isn't natural.

Pitchers have to do all these new things to try and stay ahead of the hitters, the game has evolved so much, it is just the way it is.

Pitchers today throw alot more practices, warm-ups etc......

Also, when you are paying someone 10 million dollars a year, you want his arm to last!!!!

I don't think they threw with any less speed back then. Especially Feller. Many sources reported he threw over 100 mph. However, the variety of pitches could make some difference.

Rob M.

I think money is the biggest factor. Plain and simple. If every pitcher signed a one year deal you'd see pitchers throwing 300 innings again. No doubt about it.

Look at Fellers career. He was finished at a fairly young age.

His last big season was at age 32. I think if he hadn't missed time due to WW2, it would have been even earlier.

His career was fairly typical of the big inning pitchers from the 30's to 70's. Huge numbers before age 30, not much after that.

200 wins by age 30, only a handful after 30 was done a lot of times.

Now power pitchers continue to dominate well into their 30's due to fewer innings pitched.

A different breed for sure. Joe McGinnity also had a tremendous work ethic.

Also, no need to utter the name this great hurler,
1927, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53... He even started a game for the A's in 1965 :eek:

Another thing that doesn't get much mention is what many of those guys did earlier in life. A lot of ballplayers started doing what we'd think of now as adult jobs in their early teens. Usually farming, but Aaron worked on an ice truck. Manual labor may not prepare someone to throw 90mph plus, but it does get you used to working long hours, and to adjust to working through all but the worst injuries. Especially farming. If you have to get a crop in before bad weather, and that crop represents a fair portion of your food, or nearly all the family income for the year, you can't really stop because your shoulder is sore, or you've slung 300 hay bales into the truck.

Compare that to some kids now, who may have excellent coaching to develop good mechanics, but are limited in innings/pitches from the earliest age, and don't have to work, and wouldn't be allowed to work some of the manual labor jobs. They may be throwing 5 mph+ faster, but if your body hasn't been trained to overuse you'll do far more damage trying.

Steve B

I wonder if the Red Sox didn't hurt Dice K's chances of success by screwing with his routine too much. The guy was supposed to be able to throw all day every day and then he comes over here and they baby him like a North American. I didn't like it right from the start.