I grew up an Orioles fan, and for one reason: Cal Ripken Jr. Well, technically two reasons. While my dad was from Pittsburgh, my mom was from Baltimore. I don’t know why I picked the Penguins and Steelers as my favorite teams, but went with the Orioles. The Ravens weren’t around then, so I didn’t have a choice for a football team. I don’t think I would have picked the Ravens as my favorite football team. I have a soul. As for baseball, I can only think it was due to Ripken, just like how milk was my favorite drink when I was young because of the “Drink Your Milk, Cal” advertisements.
There was one thing I really liked about Ripken, and that was The Streak. The idea that he never took a day off, and played through everything was something I respected. It was also a goal that I always have tried to live up to, and a work ethic that my family pushed as well. I’ve worked from home for several years now, so it’s pretty easy to show up to work when you’re sick in that scenario. That has never stopped me from covering a game when I’ve got a migraine, or covering Spring Training games with a fever and my throat slowly closing up due to what I learned later that evening was a severe case of strep throat.
I bring all of this up because of one question I was thinking about today: why would an athlete play down an injury and keep playing through pain?
This isn’t my question specifically. It’s just a question that is brought up every time there is a story about how an athlete downplayed his injury, didn’t tell the team about it, and potentially risked hurting himself even more. I expected that question to come up today in response to the news that Cole Tucker had surgery to repair a torn UCL in his hand, which is an injury he played through during the 2014 season. I don’t think it was brought up, but I still had the question on my mind.
So I thought about that question. Why would a player play hurt and risk further injury? Then I thought about what I would do, and I thought about my history with the subject. I thought about the last job I had where I had to actually go to a workplace, and how I never called out when I was sick. I thought about how that was due to Cal Ripken, and due to my parents and family, who pushed that kind of work ethic.
Then I thought about how we might just be seeing the end of one era in America and the beginning of another era.
There’s a divide between my age and someone of Tucker’s age. I was in middle school when he was born. I was heading to college when he was starting grade school. I started this site when he was 12 years old, and now I’m covering him as a professional baseball player. And I just successfully made myself feel very old by laying out the age difference.
I don’t know Tucker’s parents. I don’t know if he looked up to Ripken and his worth ethic. But I’d imagine his parents are from the same era as my parents, and that seemed to be an era that was much more strict on work ethic in the form of showing up every day and never calling out sick.
Now we’re entering an era where it’s not only acceptable to take a day off, but it’s encouraged. The occasional break or vacation is seen as something that keeps you fresh and more productive during the times that you are working. In short, it’s about quality of work and not quantity of work days. It’s also about getting back to 100 percent much faster by taking time to recover, rather than risking further injury.
Thinking back to my strep throat incident, I went to the urgent care center because I was sitting on my couch and couldn’t even swallow my own saliva. It got to that point because I spent the entire day watching baseball, snapping Instagram pics, and writing articles. And I did that while sick because I grew up thinking that you had to show up for work every day, no matter what. Basically, Cal Ripken almost killed me. (Total sarcasm there, as that incident didn’t stop me from geeking out when I saw him in the PNC press box later that year during the playoffs.) The same kind of mindset for an athlete could also lead to further injuries or more serious injuries when those athletes show up to play while injured.
Baseball has always mirrored American history and values. This is another example. You used to see pitchers throwing every three or four days. You had position players playing 162 games per year. Now you see some of the best players getting scheduled days off when they’re totally healthy, just to keep them fresh for when they do play. You see pitchers throwing every five days, and getting their innings limited in the process. You see relievers in specialized roles, and limited to one inning per night, and no more than three days of work in a row.
We’ve seen a shift in the work force, and I don’t think that’s just in baseball. It used to be that you came to work every day, all year, no matter what. Now it is recognized that a break makes you more productive when you’re at work, and that sometimes you shouldn’t “play through the pain.” It’s not showing up everyday that leads to production. It’s being fresh when you are working that leads to productivity.
So when will we see that translate over to the game of baseball? Will we ever see a day where players notify a team instantly of an injury and take themselves out of the lineup — which would have never even been imagined in the 50s, 60s, and 70s? Part of me thinks that athletes will always try to play through the pain, due to their competitive nature and drive to remain on the field. But there’s also the changing mindset. Maybe in 10 or 20 years, we’ll start to see athletes enter the game who weren’t raised with the “work everyday, no matter what” mindset, and didn’t watch Cal Ripken when they were growing up, but were instead told that it’s fine to take a day off when needed. And maybe then we will see the stigma removed of an athlete telling his team that he might not be able to play.
Until then, I can totally understand how someone like Tucker would play through the pain. And I talk about him in this article only because he’s the most recent example, and not to put a spotlight on him. I don’t think it’s a major issue that he downplayed his injury. If I put myself in his shoes, I’d do the same thing. And that’s all because of Cal Ripken.
**Here is the story on Tucker having surgery to repair his torn UCL in his hand. It also includes video of Tucker from batting practice today.
**In other news from Pirate City, Jameson Taillon threw his first bullpen since Tommy John surgery. The link includes comments from Taillon and video from the bullpen session.
**The 2015 top 20 countdown continued today, and will run Monday-Friday over the next three weeks. Today’s prospect was #14 – Cody Dickson. You can get the entire top 20, plus the full top 50 and profiles on 200+ players in the system by purchasing the 2015 Prospect Guide.
**Last night I put up a survey about things you’d like to see on the site in 2015, which I’d still like everyone to take. I got a lot of good responses today, and a few ideas for new content going forward. I actually look forward to the suggestions more than the comments that talk about how you like the site. That said, the comments complimenting the site are much appreciated, and also give me a good idea of what to continue strengthening on the site. If you haven’t taken the survey yet, and you want some input on how the site will be run, then please click the link above and submit your entry.
**The Jung Ho Kang contract details were released. I also updated the 2015 payroll page and the future payroll page with the figures. As for the corresponding move, the Pirates designated Jake Elmore for assignment.
**MLB.com will release their top 100 prospects on January 30th. Until then, they will be releasing top prospects at each position. Tyler Glasnow was named one of their top ten right-handed pitching prospects.
**Winter Leagues: Gorkys Hernandez Homers, Perez Continues Dominant Playoff Run
