Pansies on the mound

I for one am so tired of all of the pansies who call themselves professional pitchers in baseball. I have long been a dedicated fan of what I believe is the greatest game ever devised. With all of the nuances that separate baseball from other games, it is the most thrilling to watch.

But I must confess that as I have gotten older and watched the game grow, I have seen the sissification of the pitcher in baseball. With pitch counts, and inning restrictions - most pitchers are at best quarter time employees. In a normal five man rotation they will get the ball every fifth game, and are expected to pitch no more than five innings of that game.....I completely don't understand that mentality.

Some interesting information on Pitcher durability is easily discovered by looking into the past of generations of pitchers, that pitched long and decorated careers well before pitch counts. In the glory days of baseball a pitcher was expected to pitch the whole game, there were no middle relievers, no closers, only pitchers who of all things pitched.

So here are ten pitchers from across the ages.....most we've heard of, many we have cards of, some are legends, but more than anything else they pitched.....(I added the two leaders for the past two years to make the point)

Player	Games started	Complete Games	% of complete	Most in one season	No. Season played
Old Hoss Radbourn	503	489	97%	73	11*
Cy Young	815	749	92%	48	22
Pud Gavin	697	639	92%	72	14
Walter Johnson	666	531	80%	38	21
Christy Mathewson	551	434	79%	37	17
Warren Spahn	665	382	57%	26	21
Bob Gibson	482	255	53%	28	17
Nolan Ryan	773	222	29%	26	27
Roy Halladay	287	49	17%	9	active
CC Sebathia	288	28	10%	10	active

* died of syphilis

Don't misunderstand me, CC Sebathia and Roy Halladay are outstanding pitchers......they are a byproduct of the sissification of pitchers. Look at this chart.....all I've heard over the past week is that CC, Andy Petite and A.J. Burnette were pitching on three days rest.....how remarkable.......

How remarkable? Radbourn started 73 games in one season and completed all 73 games.... during one stretch he pitched 26 consecutive games! Many of which were double headers where he pitched every inning of both games........Cy Young, the year he completed 48 games started 49. Pud Gavin, started 75 games and completed 72! And now we have Roy Halladay and CC Sebathia - in 2008 lead their respective leagues in complete games - Halladay started started 32 games and completed 9 for a completion rate of 0.28%! Sebathia started 35 games and completed 10 - for a completion rate of 0.29%.

I think for baseball to thrive we need to toughen up pitchers and give them the expectation of starting every 4th day and completing every game they start - it's not a stretch to expect them to complete a minimum of 50% of their starts.......and most of it is not in their shoulders or elbows, it's between their ears......set the expectation and allow them to meet it.

I hope as I grow old watching the game I love I will see a resurrection of the pitcher as the best athlete on the field.