How can pitchers play baseball without full body protection?

[KungFuFanta]

no one ever said that.
I think you should walk away for 5 minutes, get a drink, take a few deep breaths, come back and read the posts.

Um yes they did, reported for trolling since that's obviously what you're doing here.

[bals]

Um yes they did, reported for trolling since that's obviously what you're doing here.

OK.
but he never said once that people who wear pads should be paid less than people who don't.
He said people choose to do it because the amount of money (or joy of the sport) they get is worth it. He never once compared the money pitchers get to athletes in other sports.

[Masqerader]

Maddux was an amazing fielding pitcher. I think the difference is Maddux was a pitcher who used finesse to get batters out instead of overpowering them like many of today's pitchers. Now we have goons like CC who feel the need to put his 300lb body behind every pitch and roll off the mound lol And I say that being a Yankee fan...

Maddux wasn't a great pitcher, sadly he got the calls... I won't dispute the fielding part

[Reg]

Maddux wasn't a great pitcher, sadly he got the calls... I won't dispute the fielding part

Going to have to completely disagree with you on that one. He lived on the corners and rightfully won 4 Cy Young Awards.

[Rennadrel]

Those events happen, but they are pretty uncommon. In some cases, the pitcher is able to catch the ball, depends on how fast the ball is going off the bat though. Pitchers aren't the only players who can fall victim to a hit by the ball, it happens to the basemen as well from time to time, though they do have a further distance to react to the play. Pretty sure a couple of grounders have hit basemen in the junk before.

[tiffy33]

Does he have a pouch of snacks hanging in there? God damn.

he got them from David Wells. Probably some scotch too.

- - - Updated - - -

Going to have to completely disagree with you on that one. He lived on the corners and rightfully won 4 Cy Young Awards.

having your number retired by 2 different teams is also pretty badass.

[Zeekua]

They know the risks involved. Every sport has injury risks. Football players know there is a chance they could have a concussion, even with a helmet, and they still do it anyway. I'm all for making things safer, but if making it safer for pitchers also greatly hinders their pitching ability, then no one is going to want that. If they start pitching wildly, they could also put the hitter in major risk of hitting them.

[Spectral]

Maddux wasn't a great pitcher, sadly he got the calls... I won't dispute the fielding part

There's some insane sports conspiracy theories, but this might top the charts. What, exactly, would the incentive have been for umpires to collectively decide, "this guy should get the calls"? Any definition of "great pitcher" that excludes someone with 355 wins and a 132 ERA+ is a fucking stupid definition.

[Drikkink]

With wooden bats, it's really not THAT big of a problem. Yeah, concussions and all and some broken bones in your face, but you'll recover from that POSSIBLY one time it happens in your career.

However, metal bats are a different story. In LITTLE LEAGUE (you know, 10 year olds), balls hit off metal bats have been hit so hard they've actually killed a few kids, generally by hitting them in the chest and stopping the heart.

[Masqerader]

Going to have to completely disagree with you on that one. He lived on the corners and rightfully won 4 Cy Young Awards.

He didn't live on the corners..if you watch the overhead views you would see he got the calls

[Reg]

He didn't live on the corners..if you watch the overhead views you would see he got the calls

And I would say your opinion is quite a rare one. He found where the umps zones were and then lived on those corners, not the other way around. I have a feeling he will be a first ballot inductee to the HoF next year.

[tiffy33]

He didn't live on the corners..if you watch the overhead views you would see he got the calls

thats with any pitcher who has great control. If a pitcher is having a great night he gets calls. Another pitcher throwing all over the place can make the exact same pitch and its called a ball.

[Rucati]

The risk is actually quite small, it's far more likely that the batter will get a broken hand/arm/etc. from being hit by a 95+ mph fastball than the pitcher getting hit with a line drive.

Yes, it happens, it happened I think two or three times in the last 2 years, but you have enough reaction time to turn your head, you won't get hit in the face. Yes, it can fracture your skull (I think it happened to a Blue Jays pitcher last year) but it's highly unlikely.

[draynay]

Good grief what is with the blatant idiotic trolling here, as if nobody here watched baseball in the 90s except you and you're some sort of expert here to enlighten us, do tell us how we've all been duped.

I came by because LaTroy Hawkins (who I didn't even realize was still pitching) had a comebacker hit him in the groin last night and he wasn't wearing a cup. Now maybe some of the padding mentioned in this thread is a bit extreme, but you'd think that'd be the one that everybody would wear, apparently not.

[koodledrum]

Good grief what is with the blatant idiotic trolling here, as if nobody here watched baseball in the 90s except you and you're some sort of expert here to enlighten us, do tell us how we've all been duped.

I came by because LaTroy Hawkins (who I didn't even realize was still pitching) had a comebacker hit him in the groin last night and he wasn't wearing a cup. Now maybe some of the padding mentioned in this thread is a bit extreme, but you'd think that'd be the one that everybody would wear, apparently not.

I'm now sitting in tears, Hawkins is a nugget, no way in hell I'd step on a baseball field without a cup on!

As for pitchers & their risky position on the field, when you consider the average starter will throw around 3000 pitches and be subject to a close call with comebackers 2-3 times per year it's not really that big a deal, most pitchers for all they're derided have the reactions to either get out of the way or deflect it. Are the odd one or two a season hurt by comebackers, yeah, but in the grand scheme of things the vast majority of pitchers manage it without any real harm, so I don't think we're in a position where pitchers need riot gear quite yet.

[draynay]

They've got a nice gif here

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-bi...200644733.html