It’s cliché at this point to say that a win in April counts just as much as a win in September. And while that’s technically true, that doesn’t mean that those April games are equally important. They’re not. Ballplayers shouldn’t be going balls out in April if it means that they won’t be healthy for the rest of the year. There’s simply too much time left, too many games that a nagging injury can linger and sap value from a normally productive player.
I am sick and tired the culture of machismo that still pervades the game, as players try to play through pain and rub dirt on it and get back out there. Look, I know it’s not that simple. Bodies are complicated things, and it can be hard to tell what’s normal soreness and what’s actual pain. And it’s nice that ballplayers want to be on the field; it’s certainly better than the alternative. I even get the desire not to be perceived as “soft,” especially when injury risks can cost a player millions of dollars every year. But when the hell are ballplayers going to learn that playing through pain tends to make them play worse? And when they play worse, they don’t actually help their clubs?
Words cannot describe how excited I am that Jamie Moyer made the starting rotation for the Colorado Rockies. It’s not just that he’s older than fellow rotation-mates Juan Nicasio and Jhoulys Chacin combined. And it’s not that he’s lived through 10 US Presidencies (and 10 Prime Ministers, including Pierre Trudeau twice) and was alive when Kennedy was shot. And it’s not that he’s just one year, three months, and 14 days younger than President Obama (and just two years, six months, and 18 days younger than Stephen Harper).
