Tom McGee

Here’s a mash-up of a couple of sports articles that were in the paper this morning. Michael Phelps, in an almost scripted move, shatters eight world records and wins eight gold medals in the Olympics. Other world records — the men’s 100 meters for example — are falling like rain. Dara Torres, age 41, misses a gold medal by .01 seconds. It’s amazing, the advancement in human speed and endurance.

Then there’s this one, about Babe Ruth. Imagine if Roger Clemens in his prime could, in addition to winning 20 games and striking out 300 in a season, bat .350 and hit 50 home runs a season. That would be the level of talent Babe Ruth had. After giving up a brilliant pitching career to become a full-time player, late in his Yankee career he pitched a couple of meaningless late-season games in 1930 and 1933. Both were complete games, both wins.

Complete games were the norm back then.

In Ruth’s day, complete games were more commonplace. The league leader in 1930, Ted Lyons of the Chicago White Sox, completed 29 starts.

These days it’s remarkable if a pitcher throws three or four complete games a season. It’s amazing, the decline in human endurance. If they’d kept up with marathoners, for example, every journeyman pitcher would be throwing both ends of a double-header routinely.

Why is the act of pitching a baseball immune to the advances in strength and conditioning that every other sport is making, and why are pitchers so much less tough than they used to be?