Read this article about catcher's hand trauma. The study was done by Wake Forest researchers. An eye opener, to say the least.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20050701/hl_hsn/baseballcat...reversiblehandtrauma
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Tasmit, Thanks for the article. I appreciate it but at the same time I think this is an example of someone crying wolf just for the sake of being able to watch the farmers come a running.
I won’t argue the with experts at Wake Forest. Work related injuries are a problem in many professions but I think we parents of catchers need to put this in perspective. Separate the wheat from the chaff, as they say. I live in a farming community in rural Tennessee. This year a farmer raised wheat on my property. After the wheat is combined, the remaining straw is baled into what is commonly called “square bales“. Just yesterday evening I went back in the field and talked to the 3 young men that were loading the wagons with the baled wheat straw. One would throw the bales onto the floor of the wagon and the other would stack them about 10 ft high while the third would pull the wagon around the field with the tractor. I noticed one young man’s hands were cut and bleeding from where the hay bale twine had cut his fingers from loading hundreds of 50-75 lb bales and he had wiped the blood on his shirt. It was a torrid day and the temperature in the high 90’s. I’ve done this before and I know how brutal it is. They were drenched in sweat. One of these young men had been my son’s classmate, and he asked how he was doing playing pro ball...I said fine..and then I made a brief mental comparison of his life and my son’s life. I felt sorry for these young men. I left the wheat field and went back and listened to my son on the internet and thought of how fortunate he was to be able to do what he‘s doing.
Fungo
quote:In a typical pro baseball game, a minor or major league catcher stops about 150 pitches, many slamming into his glove at speeds well over 90 mph. Add in pre-game practice throws, and the total number of catches climbs as high as 300 a day, experts say.
I won’t argue the with experts at Wake Forest. Work related injuries are a problem in many professions but I think we parents of catchers need to put this in perspective. Separate the wheat from the chaff, as they say. I live in a farming community in rural Tennessee. This year a farmer raised wheat on my property. After the wheat is combined, the remaining straw is baled into what is commonly called “square bales“. Just yesterday evening I went back in the field and talked to the 3 young men that were loading the wagons with the baled wheat straw. One would throw the bales onto the floor of the wagon and the other would stack them about 10 ft high while the third would pull the wagon around the field with the tractor. I noticed one young man’s hands were cut and bleeding from where the hay bale twine had cut his fingers from loading hundreds of 50-75 lb bales and he had wiped the blood on his shirt. It was a torrid day and the temperature in the high 90’s. I’ve done this before and I know how brutal it is. They were drenched in sweat. One of these young men had been my son’s classmate, and he asked how he was doing playing pro ball...I said fine..and then I made a brief mental comparison of his life and my son’s life. I felt sorry for these young men. I left the wheat field and went back and listened to my son on the internet and thought of how fortunate he was to be able to do what he‘s doing.
Fungo
I guess now the catchers will be on a catch count.
There is alot of trauma in just about everything we do in life IMO. Whats next - trauma in making coffee everyday? Or holding the steering wheel driving to work.
Look - I think catchers are the cog behind the wheel of every team - and I admire every one of them for what they do - at any level.
But I also think the Wake Forest brainiacs should study something more important - like cancer or heart disease.
Hand trauma for catchers is not at the top of the list IMO - perhaps getting skulled by a line drive off a metal cannon is something these fellas should really look at.
IMO
Sorry for this opinion.
Look - I think catchers are the cog behind the wheel of every team - and I admire every one of them for what they do - at any level.
But I also think the Wake Forest brainiacs should study something more important - like cancer or heart disease.
Hand trauma for catchers is not at the top of the list IMO - perhaps getting skulled by a line drive off a metal cannon is something these fellas should really look at.
IMO
Sorry for this opinion.