Buzz Bissinger on the sad tale of Kerry Wood and the mystery of pitching

[Double Down]

Some very nice descriptions within this piece.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/sports/playmagazine/0603play-wood.html

 

[Eagleboy]

Agreed. Whoever wanted to know how to work with similies, I think this was a good example. Among my favorites:

"The Cubs’ blue-and-white uniform shirts, which have been set out by the staff with the circumspection of English butlers, flow from one locker to another."

"He would go way inside to let the batter know who was in control, a tactic that had the benefit of expanding the outside of the plate into a thick wedge of porterhouse."

Nice work.

 

[Terence Mann]

Are those similies? I don't even know if they are similes. The last one seems closer to a metaphor? The other? I'd like a ruling from our masters of grammar and the English language.

 

[ondeadline]

A simile is a metaphor using "like" or "as." Neither is in the examples. No, no they aren't similes.

 

[Hammer Pants]

It was a nice piece. Wood does indeed look skinny. I'd love to see him back in the game, even if it's just in middle relief.

In theory, why couldn't he just shut it down for two years? He's only 29, so why couldn't he just work out and rehab for two years with minimal throwing and see what happens?

 

[PopeDirkBenedict]

It was a nice piece. Wood does indeed look skinny. I'd love to see him back in the game, even if it's just in middle relief.

In theory, why couldn't he just shut it down for two years? He's only 29, so why couldn't he just work out and rehab for two years with minimal throwing and see what happens?

I am not sure it would help. As the article explains, Wood has always thrown across his body, relying solely on arm strength. Wood would need to re-learn how to pitch from scratch and I doubt he could completely revamp himself into a major league pitcher that way.

 

[Hammer Pants]

It was a nice piece. Wood does indeed look skinny. I'd love to see him back in the game, even if it's just in middle relief.

In theory, why couldn't he just shut it down for two years? He's only 29, so why couldn't he just work out and rehab for two years with minimal throwing and see what happens?

I am not sure it would help. As the article explains, Wood has always thrown across his body, relying solely on arm strength. Wood would need to re-learn how to pitch from scratch and I doubt he could completely revamp himself into a major league pitcher that way.

I agree with most of that. I just know he has one of the best arms I've ever seen, so in theory, if he learned to drive with his legs, couldn't he throw harder with less effort? I would think he could take some time off to rest the shoulder and simply lift weights and run, then pick a ball up re-learn some things.

He's already got all the money he needs, and he wants his son to watch him play in the majors, so wouldn't this be the best way to do that?

 

[Eagleboy]

A simile is a metaphor using "like" or "as." Neither is in the examples. No, no they aren't similes.

Ah, same effect. It's descriptive - and unique. That's all that counts.

 

[Terence Mann]

Certainly rich descriptions, yes.

 

[ballscribe]

This link was sent to me in a group e-mail. And one of the recipients (a stats lover from way back) sent along another link, to the Boog Sciambi radio show, where Bissinger discusses it.

The e-mailer said that in it, Bissinger admits he "just listened to old baseball guys and took their word for it, without doing substantive research", whatever that means.

The sound on my laptop is disunctional, so I didn't listen. But if you're interested, here it is (sorry I didn't shorten it; I don't know how)

http://www.790theticket.com/audioplayer.php?mp3=2016550200Bissinger31.mp3&show=The%20Boog%20Sciambi%20Show&id=2543

 

[jgmacg]

sim·i·le (sĭm'ə-lē)

n.

A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as, as in “How like the winter hath my absence been” or “So are you to my thoughts as food to life” (Shakespeare).


met·a·phor (mĕt'ə-fôr', -fər)

n.

1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “All the world's a stage” (Shakespeare).

2. One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol: “Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven” (Neal Gabler).

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

It was a nice piece. Wood does indeed look skinny.

Jeez... give him cornrows and he looks like Axl Rose.

 

[PhilaYank36]

Where can I buy this? The first page read nicely, but I don't feel like clicking through six more pages online.

 

[Double Down]

Where can I buy this? The first page read nicely, but I don't feel like clicking through six more pages online.

On the right hand side, there is an option (under PRINT and EMAIL) called SINGLE PAGE. Click that and print it out. That's what I did. Otherwise, I believe "Play" is a monthly magazine that comes out with the Sunday edition of the Times. You might still be able to get a copy today.

 

[SoCalScribe]

Great story. Calls to mind Passan's piece of Mike Marshall and the art of pitching mechanics, which I consider a must-read for baseball beat writers and baseball fans. Whether Marshall's a kook or not, the mechanics exhibited by durable pitchers and his students have some clear similiarities. Yes, it's better to be Jered Weaver than a no-name, but I think biomechanics is reaching the point where it's becoming more and more apparent what motions almost always lead to injury and which only occasionally do.

 

[shotglass]

Good, good read.

This crystallized something for me about pitchers who blow out their arms. I saw one of the other "great" young arms of the past two decades -- Tampa Bay No. 1 draft pick Matt White -- in high school. And White never made it to the majors. He never recovered from his arm problems, retiring last summer.

White and Wood had something in common -- something that set them apart from the pack, and at the same time was their undoing in the end.

It wasn't the big fastball. It wasn't overwork. It was that damn slurve.

Both Wood and Matt White had that absolutely unfair "fast curve." I saw White throw it as a 16-year-old, break it from behind a hitter's ear to the low outside corner with an 83-mph clocking.

When Wood had his 20-K game, the amazing thing to see wasn't his heater, although it was definitely around 100 mph that day. No, it was that curve ball which not only dropped eyes-to-ankles, but was fast, too.

Both of these guys, I am positive, ripped their arms apart throwing that pitch.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Good, good read.

This crystallized something for me about pitchers who blow out their arms. I saw one of the other "great" young arms of the past two decades -- Tampa Bay No. 1 draft pick Matt White -- in high school. And White never made it to the majors. He never recovered from his arm problems, retiring last summer.

White and Wood had something in common -- something that set them apart from the pack, and at the same time was their undoing in the end.

It wasn't the big fastball. It wasn't overwork. It was that damn slurve.

Both Wood and Matt White had that absolutely unfair "fast curve." I saw White throw it as a 16-year-old, break it from behind a hitter's ear to the low outside corner with an 83-mph clocking.

When Wood had his 20-K game, the amazing thing to see wasn't his heater, although it was definitely around 100 mph that day. No, it was that curve ball which not only dropped eyes-to-ankles, but was fast, too.

Both of these guys, I am positive, ripped their arms apart throwing that pitch.

Nicely written, but that's pretty sun-rises-in-the-east stuff.

No one blows out the arm throwing No. 1.