Josh Hamilton is a freakishly talented baseball player - maybe the most talented player of his generation. He essentially jumped to the majors from A-ball following a four-year absence from the game, and he instantly became one of the best hitters in the league. Unfortunately, his body is made from graham crackers and electrical tape. Every inning he isn’t on the field is a shame, and the Hamilton-free innings are starting to piling up.
Josh Hamilton Heading For All-Injury Team
While it’s far too early to make any definitive statements about Hamilton’s career -- the guy is only 30 -- at the rate he’s going, he could join a long list of tremendous baseball players who were betrayed by their bodies. Here’s an attempt to fill a lineup and rotation with scouting legends who were betrayed by their body.
Two notes:
- No one in the Hall of Fame. While it would have been nice to see Kirby Puckett and Sandy Koufax continue their careers for another decade, their bodies held out long enough for them to be considered among the best who ever played the game. Ken Griffey, Jr. falls into this category too.
- This is just one attempt, not a definitive list. There’s no way I would know if Eggshell Calamine had the best arm the Cleveland Spiders had ever seen before his Tesla Coil accident, and by limiting the list to five pitchers, that means that 32,093 will be left off. So, please, fill in the gaps with the players I’ve missed.
Kendall was Buster Posey with speed, hitting .314/.402/.456 with 93 stolen bases over his first five seasons, but a horrific ankle injury and the rigors of catching sapped the production from his bat.
1B: Don Mattingly
Mattingly was one of the best players in the game for one the most historic franchise -- a recipe for a Hall of Fame induction if there ever was one. Lingering back injuries forced an early retirement, though, leaving him just short of Cooperstown numbers.
His nickname was “Snuffy” because of his asthmatic breathing -- that’s the first clue that he might not have been an iron man. He couldn’t be in World War II because of gastric ulcers and hay fever, and after winning the AL batting title for the Yankees in 1945, Stirnweiss’s production declined. He was out of the game at 33 years old, and he died in a train wreck when he was 39.
Ah, Nomar. The Jeter/A-Rod/Nomar triumvirate changed how baseball looked at shortstops, and two of them are heading for the Hall. Garciaparra, though, couldn’t finish a full season after turning 29, cutting short a brilliant peak.
3B: Al Rosen
Rosen was the AL MVP in 1953, but he retired when he was just 32 after back and leg injuries. His peak when healthy was as good as it gets for a third baseman, and if he could have stayed healthy for a little bit longer, he could have had a Hall chance at an underrepresented position.
OF: Pete Reiser
This one might be a little unfair, as Reiser missed a chunk of time to World War II, but he was fantastic before he left, coming in second in MVP voting in 1941 as a 22-year-old. He finished ninth in MVP voting when he came back from the war in 1946, but he was never able to complete a full season again.
OF: Fred Lynn
One of only two players to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, Lynn made nine straight All-Star teams from 1975 through 1983. But he was only able to play a full season five times in a 17-season career.
OF: Cesar Cedeno
Whenever searching Play Index for young baseball wunderkinds, Cedeno is always right there with the Mel Otts and Alex Rodriguezes -- players who were crazy good at a young age. He wasn’t able to stay healthy, though, and he moved from superstar to role player by the time he was 30
SP: Smoky Joe Wood
The ultimate betrayed-by-his-body player, perhaps. His career ERA was 2.03, good for an ERA+ of 146 in 1416 innings. He was reported to have one of the best arms that baseball had ever seen, but he blew out his arm when he was just 25. If you could send some modern medical technology back through time, Wood might be the first stop.
SP: J.R. Richard
Richard was one of the most electric pitcher in the game when he had a stroke when he was 30. He was beleaguered by some ugly rumors leading up to the stroke, as there were whispers that he was just being lazy when he was complaining about dizziness and other symptoms.
SP: Dwight Gooden
His drug use didn’t help, but it was his arm that couldn’t hold up. His 1985 season, when he was just 20, was one of the most amazing seasons in baseball history. He pitched 276 innings, with 268 strikeouts and a 1.53 ERA. Maybe the pitch-count mania can be overblown, but there’s a reason why you’ll never see a 20-year-old worked that hard again.
SP: Bret Saberhagen
Saberhagen was the counterpart to Gooden in ‘85, throwing 262 innings with a 2.16 ERA as a 25-year-old. That was the last time he’d throw more than 200 innings, though. He was exceptional when he healthy -- dig that BB/9 ratio of 0.7 in 1994 -- but that wasn’t often.
SP: Mark Prior
The most recent example on the list, Prior dominated the majors after shooting up through the minor leagues. His picture-perfect mechanics weren’t exactly that after all, and after one full season in which he finished third in the Cy Young voting, he experienced numerous arm and shoulder problems. Though he’s still attempting to come back, now in the Yankees organization, he hasn’t pitched in the majors since he was 25.
RP: Dick Radatz
The Monster still holds the record for strikeouts by a reliever, with 181 in 157 innings in 1964. He pitched four full seasons in an era that used relievers very, very differently, and he was never the same after blowing his arm out in 1966.
Really, this was just an exercise to see if I could work Snuffy Stirnweiss into a post. Success!
Just looking at the pitchers, I can see 20 that could and probably should be there. Ron Guidry, Steve Avery, Mark Fidrych, Kevin Appier, Larry Dierker ... heck, you could make a drinking game out of the live-armed pitchers who became dead-armed pitchers.
Who isn’t up there but should be?
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