Are Baseball Players
Great Athletes?
If I asked you to physically describe a basketball player an
image of a Lebron James type athlete (tall, lean, explosive, graceful) would
likely spring to the forefront of your imagination. A football player (strong,
agile, powerful, mean) in the image of Ndamukong Suh may be a natural thought.
But if I were to ask you to describe the typical baseball player you may have
to pause and chew on that one for a bit. Baseball players are often assessed
for technical skills such as hitting, throwing, pitching, fielding while not as
much is made of their raw physical abilities such as strength, speed and
agility.
If you look back on many of the all time greats they are
well… by appearance anyway quite average.
I recall 3 recent inductees into the Baseball Hall-Of-Fame,
all pitchers in addition to the best hitter of the 1990’s as examples of the
diverse nature of baseball body types.
Tom Glavine won 305 games in a 22-season career. Glavine
stood 6 feet tall and weighed in at 170 pounds. The NHL also drafted Glavine
but he chooses to play baseball instead.
Greg Maddux won 355 games (8TH all time) and was
generously listed at 6 feet and 170 pounds. Maddux more closely resembled a
high school teacher than a pro athlete. Some teams were unimpressed by Maddux's
skinny build, but Chicago Cubs scout Doug Mapson saw past the physique. Mapson
wrote a glowing review that read in part, "I really believe this boy would
be the number one player in the country if only he looked a bit more
physical."*Maddux won a baseball record 18 gold gloves and was praised for
his pitching mechanics and his ability to consistently repeat his delivery;
both are hallmarks of an outstanding athlete.
John Smoltz in 2002, set a NL record with 55 saves, and
became only the second pitcher in history (joining Dennis Eckersley) to record
both a 20-win season and a 50-save season. He is the only pitcher in major
league history to record both 200 wins and 150 saves. * Smoltz was built more
along the lines of what you would expect from an athlete at 6 foot 3 and 210
pounds. **
John Smoltz was an All-State baseball and basketball player
at Waverly High School in Lansing, Michigan and Tiger Woods has stated that
Smoltz is the best golfer outside of the PGA Tour that he has observed.
And finally my all-time favorite hitter Tony Gwynn (15 time
All-Star and 8-time National League batting champion), gained so much weight at
the end of his career you would never have guessed that he was a pro athlete. He did not play baseball his first year
at San Diego State in order to concentrate on basketball. He joined the Aztecs
baseball team only after a former high school teammate convinced the baseball
coach to give Gwynn a chance to compete. Gwynn became a two-sport star, playing
three seasons of baseball and four of basketball.
Gwynn is the only player in Western Athletic Conference
(WAC) history to earn all-conference honors in two sports. Gwynn said playing
point guard helped to develop his baseball skills, as the dribbling
strengthened his wrists—avoiding what he called "slow bat
syndrome"—and his quickness improved his base running. He could dunk a
basketball, and he was able to run 60 yards (55 m) in 6.7 seconds; he had a
quick first step in either sport. ***
The message should be clear, it doesn’t matter if you posses
the prototypical “baseball” body.
A young athlete should never feel discouraged nor should talent
evaluators overlook them if they don’t fit some generic model of what an
athlete is supposed to look like. It’s more important to scout an athlete’s
background… What were they exposed to at a young age, did they play other
sports… And within the sport of baseball did they play multiple positions?
These 4 Hall of Famers are proof that athleticism clearly comes first and it’s
because of that they were able to become elite baseball players.
Smoltz address early
specialization and overuse injury in youth baseball:
Imagine how important John Smoltz thinks this is if he
included it in the limited amount of time available to him at Hall of Fame
induction:
“Before I hand it over to the next inductee, I’d be remiss
if I did not talk about Tommy John. I’ve been given an opportunity as one of
the only players, the only one right now, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame
with Tommy John surgery. It’s an epidemic. It’s something that is affecting our
game. It’s something that I thought would cost me my career, but thanks to Dr.
James Andrews and all those before him, performing the surgery with such
precision has caused it to be almost a false read, like a Band-Aid you put on
your arm.
I want to encourage the families and parents that are out
there to understand that this is not normal to have a surgery at 14 and 15
years old, that you have time, that baseball’s not a year-round sport, that you
have an opportunity to be athletic and play other sports.
Don’t let the institutions that are out there running before
you guaranteeing scholarship dollars and signing bonuses (tell you) that this
is the way. We have such great, dynamic arms in our game that it’s a shame that
we’re having one and two and three Tommy John recipients. So I want to
encourage you if nothing else, know that your children’s passion and desire to
play baseball is something that they can do without a competitive pitch. Every
throw a kid makes today is a competitive pitch. They don’t go outside; they
don’t have fun; they don’t throw enough. But they’re competing and maxing out
too hard, too early, and that’s why we’re having these problems. So please,
take care of those great future arms.”****
Well said from a man who cares deeply about the future of
baseball and more importantly he cares about the health and well being of the
next generation of athletes at all levels of ability.
Reference:
Related info:
For more on John Smoltz’s prowess on the golf course check
this out:
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