I LOVE MY YANKEES, But OMG

I LOVE MY YANKEES, But OMG

My Yankees are fighting to make it to the World Series.  They are playing the Houston Astros, a damn good team.  Now I love my Yankees, but, Holy Cow (as the beloved Phil Rizzuto would say) they cannot stay healthy.

I understand athletes getting hurt.  Baseball is not a contact sport, but there are balls flying around from pitchers or off bats at up to 115 MPH.  People do get hurt.  There are walls to be run into at full speed, people do get hurt.  There are collisions between players racing for a fly ball, or barreling in to home plate, people do get hurt.

My Yankees have had almost everyone of their star players hurt for a month or more this year. 

How have they been hurt?

One was hurt diving to third base to avoid a pickoff throw…out for the season.  One was hurt sliding into second base on a steal attempt…out for a month.  Several were hurt running to first base trying to beat out a ground ball hit...out for two weeks.  One was hurt throwing the ball to second base from center field…Out for 6 weeks.  One player missed a month because he hurt his arm swinging the bat…on a base hit!

Running, sliding, throwing, and swinging a bat…these are all basic baseball skills and my Yankees keep getting hurt doing these basic skills.

Mickey Mantle spent an hour before every game tapping up his legs which were hurt from a childhood disease and an accident tripping on a sprinkler in the outfield.  The Mick played hurt…(and sometimes drunk but that’s another story.)

I do not remember Yogi Berra who played catcher, the toughest position in the game, ever being hurt.  I don’t think Whitey Ford ever missed a start, 15 years, and he was never hurt.

Why did those old ball players always play, never got hurt, and today’s Yankees get hurt throwing, running and swinging a bat?  Pretty sure those old Yankees also threw, ran and swung bats.

Might be because those old ball players didn’t make as much money as they do today.  Many had other jobs in the off-season.  When they make or have the potential to make 30 million dollars a year, players today might be a bit more protective of their careers.  Playing in pain or playing through an injury could ruin a career and cost more money than most people can wrap their heads around.

I get it!

Still.

Throwing, running, sliding and swinging a bat should not cause an injury.  If you can’t run, throw, slide or swing a bat without getting hurt maybe you are in the wrong game.

Yankees are down to the Astros 2-1...damn Houston is good!