Bob Ojeda article in the Times

[YankeeFan]

Bob Ojeda authors an article on "The Glory and the Pain of Pitching" in the Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/sports/baseball/the-former-met-bob-ojeda-relives-both-glory-and-pain.html?_r=1&ref=sports&pagewanted=all

I’d lived with pain in my left arm since I was 12, when my dad would have me ice it after a Little League outing. My dad, who had pitched in the Army, was something of a pioneer in caring for young arms. Besides, he told me, Sandy Koufax iced his arm

“Right, Dad,” I said. “Let’s ice it.”

But this time, the pain was brutal, and, well, I wasn’t in Little League anymore. It was 1986, and I was set to start Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Astros in Houston. I’d won 18 games in my first season with the Mets. I’d pitched a complete game in a 5-1 victory over the Astros in Game 2.

But damn. I mean, it hurt. Like a screwdriver was stuck in it. So, after years of ice, pain medicine, massage and sleeping in long-sleeved shirts to keep my left arm warm and safe, the team doctor said I had only one option left — to stick something in it. Like a needle. With something powerful in the vial.

Bad break, though: the team doctor was in Washington. I was in New York. The game was in Houston. So the team trainer called and told me to meet him at Shea Stadium. I went into the trainer’s room, and he gave me two needles and two vials: one with a numbing agent and the other with cortisone. I stuffed them in my leather jacket, grabbed a cab over to La Guardia Airport and hopped the shuttle down to Washington.

I met the doctor at the hotel, where he was attending a conference. He probed my elbow because, for the best result, he needed to hit the spot where it hurt most. The numbing agent, something of a misnomer, stung. The cortisone, though, burned like hell. But I thanked him and headed back to New York, and then on to Houston.

On Oct. 15, I went to the bullpen and started to throw. It was not going well. It felt like I had two sandbags stuffed in my elbow. I was in trouble, I remember thinking, but I figured I had to try. I gave up three runs in the first inning. Davey Johnson, the manager, stayed with me. A big deal. For him. For me. For my elbow, from which the sand had started, grain by grain, to run out. I went five innings. We won in 16.

My left arm and I were going to the World Series.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

A ballet dancer's feet hurt.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Then what was he doing with the hedgeclippers?

 

[dooley_womack1]

Smasher: if a ballet dancer of some renown detailed how he or she used drugs and denial to soldier on, and how their father or mother pushed them toward a course of fame, I'd be all for reading it

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Smasher: if a ballet dancer of some renown detailed how he or she used drugs and denial to soldier on, and how their father or mother pushed them toward a course of fame, I'd be all for reading it

Good. You let me know how it comes out -- especially if the ballet dancer winds up making $9 million.

A lot of people endure hardship in pursuit of a career, and don't do nearly as well in terms of income and perks as some athletes do.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I don't understand the criticism. Bob Ojeda had an interesting story to tell. He told it. It didn't come off at all as looking for sympathy.

My only question is did he actually write it or is it ghostwritten. I assume the latter.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

I'm not criticizing Ojeda. I'm just saying that a lot of people make huge sacrifices to pursue a career and don't come close to the tangible rewards that some athletes -- like Ojeda -- get.

For that matter, I'm sure there are baseball players who endured everything Ojeda did (plus more) and never reached the major leagues. For them, there's no big money, no great pension plan, no quickie $5,000 card show appearances, no easy path to TV jobs, no free-car-for-a-year-if-we-can-use-your-picture-in-ads deal.

 

[YankeeFan]

Smasher: if a ballet dancer of some renown detailed how he or she used drugs and denial to soldier on, and how their father or mother pushed them toward a course of fame, I'd be all for reading it

Good. You let me know how it comes out -- especially if the ballet dancer winds up making $9 million.

A lot of people endure hardship in pursuit of a career, and don't do nearly as well in terms of income and perks as some athletes do.

So, what do you have in your paper today that's better than this?

I don't understand the criticism. Bob Ojeda had an interesting story to tell. He told it. It didn't come off at all as looking for sympathy.

My only question is did he actually write it or is it ghostwritten. I assume the latter.

Exactly. It's an interesting story, and is well written.

I'd love to know how it came about, and how much help he had writing it.

 

[YankeeFan]

I'm not criticizing Ojeda. I'm just saying that a lot of people make huge sacrifices to pursue a career and don't come close to the tangible rewards that some athletes -- like Ojeda -- get.

For that matter, I'm sure there are baseball players who endured everything Ojeda did (plus more) and never reached the major leagues. For them, there's no big money, no great pension plan, no quickie $5,000 card show appearances, no easy path to TV jobs, no free-car-for-a-year-if-we-can-use-your-picture-in-ads deal.

Sounds like you have some terrific story ideas. Go out and report them. Publish them.

Let us know how it turns out. I'd love to read one of these stories. Sounds like you're aware of a bunch of them.

If you're lucky, maybe it will get picked up and run by the Times.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

I'm not criticizing Ojeda. I'm just saying that a lot of people make huge sacrifices to pursue a career and don't come close to the tangible rewards that some athletes -- like Ojeda -- get.

For that matter, I'm sure there are baseball players who endured everything Ojeda did (plus more) and never reached the major leagues. For them, there's no big money, no great pension plan, no quickie $5,000 card show appearances, no easy path to TV jobs, no free-car-for-a-year-if-we-can-use-your-picture-in-ads deal.

Sounds like you have some terrific story ideas. Go out and report them. Publish them.

Let us know how it turns out. I'd love to read one of these stories. Sounds like you're aware of a bunch of them.

If you're lucky, maybe it will get picked up and run by the Times.

Right now my focus is entirely on getting the five-year waiting period waived so you can deservedly gain immediate induction to the Moron Hall of Fame.

Yes, on Memorial Day weekend my heart aches for ballplayers who had some bumps on the path to being a millionaire.

 

[dooley_womack1]

It doesn't much matter if it's a sympathetic tale. It's insight into a major league's ballplayer's path. I doubt it was designed to make you cry or anything.

 

[YankeeFan]

I'm not criticizing Ojeda. I'm just saying that a lot of people make huge sacrifices to pursue a career and don't come close to the tangible rewards that some athletes -- like Ojeda -- get.

For that matter, I'm sure there are baseball players who endured everything Ojeda did (plus more) and never reached the major leagues. For them, there's no big money, no great pension plan, no quickie $5,000 card show appearances, no easy path to TV jobs, no free-car-for-a-year-if-we-can-use-your-picture-in-ads deal.

Sounds like you have some terrific story ideas. Go out and report them. Publish them.

Let us know how it turns out. I'd love to read one of these stories. Sounds like you're aware of a bunch of them.

If you're lucky, maybe it will get picked up and run by the Times.

Right now my focus is entirely on getting the five-year waiting period waived so you can deservedly gain immediate induction to the Moron Hall of Fame.

Yes, on Memorial Day weekend my heart aches for ballplayers who had some bumps on the path to being a millionaire.

Who asked you for heart ache?

It's a ****ing story. It's interesting, in that it's a first person account by a former major leaguer who was on a World Series championship team, in the city where the paper is published.

The editors at the New York Times thought it was worthy of running on the front page of their Sunday sports section, but I guess you would have rejected it.

So, come on, tell us what your paper ran today that was better.

 

[YankeeFan]

It's the number 12 most emailed article in the Times in the last 24 hours:

http://www.nytimes.com/most-popular-emailed

Probably a lot of people emailing their friends about how stupid the article is.

 

[LongTimeListener]

It resonates largely because it's the same story that a lot of washed-up never-weres could tell. And it's getting more relevant with each passing year.

It also strikes a chord because it's easy to forget just how much pain these guys are in sometimes. Ojeda pitched the whole year, and was pretty damn good, with this stabbing pain. That's interesting.

This weekend is my son's first travel ball tournament. 9-year-olds. Yesterday the #3 pitcher had to leave the mound because of shoulder pain, after taking the previous two weeks off while getting physical therapy. The #1 pitcher is battling arm pain but pitching through it. The #2 guy is holding up well this year, but last year when he was 8 he had to stop pitching before the season ended.

 

[Moderator1]

I hope that last part is in jest, maybe missing blue font? A nine-year-old "pitching through" arm pain? If it isn't a joke, someone ought to be whipped

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I hope that last part is in jest, maybe missing blue font? A nine-year-old "pitching through" arm pain? If it isn't a joke, someone ought to be whipped

Definitely. You could make the case that any parent who lets a 9-year-old "pitch through the pain" is guilty of neglect, if not straight-up child abuse.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I hope that last part is in jest, maybe missing blue font? A nine-year-old "pitching through" arm pain? If it isn't a joke, someone ought to be whipped

Definitely. You could make the case that any parent who lets a 9-year-old "pitch through the pain" is guilty of neglect, if not straight-up child abuse.

It is a sick joke being played on American society, but it is all true nonetheless. Last year the #1 pick of our league draft had to miss the season with what is commonly known now as "Little League elbow." He was 10.

 

[sgreenwell]

I hope that last part is in jest, maybe missing blue font? A nine-year-old "pitching through" arm pain? If it isn't a joke, someone ought to be whipped

Definitely. You could make the case that any parent who lets a 9-year-old "pitch through the pain" is guilty of neglect, if not straight-up child abuse.

When, for example, living near Boston I see a slew of comments on articles about how Jacoby Ellsworth, J.D. Drew and Clay Buchholz are essentially pussies for not playing, it's not hard to imagine what the people behind those comments are doing to their kids.

 

[DocTalk]

The is the ache of tired muscles and then there is the pain of injury. Most athletes, regardless of age, recognize the difference; some parents and coaches don't.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Agreed, Doc. But if we're talking about a 9-year-old, he should have a professional check whether it's fatigue or injury, right?