Yellow Jacket Times - Jefferson County Public Schools

Wanna Play Ball?
Davon Carr
Anyone out there want to be a professional baseball player? If so, there are many
things that you should know about the sport. In the game of baseball, about 627,000
injuries occur in a year. Out of those 627,000 injuries about 117,000 of them are endured
by children from the ages of 5-14. That’s a lot of injuries; it kind of makes you reconsider
playing baseball since it shows how often you get hurt.
There are other gruesome facts about baseball. The worst is that some people
have died while playing professional baseball. From 1983-2009, there were 52 baseball
related deaths. It’s not as bad as it sounds, because out of thousands of players, only 3-4
die a year. Tragic as it may be, it also goes to show that it doesn’t happen often.
Many injuries occur when you’re running the bases and you pull your hamstring or
cut the corner of a base too early and sprain your ankle. You can also can also get a
common injury, called a “strawberry” where there is a burn or cut on the skin. It usually
doesn’t hurt too badly, but depending on the area of the body where the strawberry is
located, it can be painful in the long run.
Injuries can also come from being hit by a bat or the baseball itself. I’ve had two
experiences being hit with a baseball that caused an injury. My first incident was in
pregame warm-ups last year and the coach hit the ball into the sun and I lost it and it
came down and hit me in the chest and it knocked the wind out of me. My second injury
was this year when the coach, once again, hit the ball up in the sun, but this particular
time I got hit in the eye. I had blurry vision for about 10 minutes and my eye was black
for about three days.
The most common types of injuries are in the shoulder, elbow, knees, muscle pulls,
contusions, and ligaments, black eyes, concussions, and lacerations. If you choose not
to have some or most of these injuries treated, they could be career ending. That is the
worst thing that you can tell an athlete, especially a dedicated one.
Baseball injuries occur to the upper body 51.4% of the time. Injuries to the lower
body occur about 30.6% of the time. That gives you a general idea of where most of your
injuries might be. Half of your injuries will be in your upper body which is the shoulder
region, elbows, neck, forearms, and chest. Every once in a while you might get a lower
body injury that involves the knees, hamstrings, feet, shins, and ankles.
You may think it’s hard to deal with those injuries. Not really; that’s why the teams
should have a team trainer. They will get you on track, or give you some type of
treatment to get you through the injury. If you don’t have a team trainer, then you will
have to worry about the injury and how you will overcome it.
Many wonder why there are so many games in the major league season. In little
league, you don’t really play that many, in high school you only play about 30-40 games,
and in college, you might play 50-60 games. The majors play a total of 162 games before
the playoffs!
Baseball is game of intelligence. You don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest,
but you will have to work hard and be dedicated to learning and practicing the game, not
only 24/7, but as coach says, “25/8,” adding an extra day and hour to be successful in
what you do. Anybody can give baseball a try; you don’t have to be super athletic, just
smart with good instincts. If you’ve been thinking about playing, see Coach Gunther and
find out if this game is for you.
References: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/health/09stat.html