What's happened to major league pitchers?

                 by  Jerry Jonas

                 For five innings, I had twice walked the nearly-empty upper-deck grandstands of Shibe Park (later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) hawking a large tray loaded with dozens of Goldenbergs Peanut Chews.
                Satisfied I had probably sold my quota of those 5-cent delights for the day, I settled comfortably into a seat overlooking the Philadelphia A's dugout to enjoy the game.
                It was a relatively warm Saturday afternoon ----- July 21, 1945 ----- and the war with Germany had been over for more than two months, and in just over three weeks, the war with Japan would come to a violent end following the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
               As a 14-year-old soon to enter my first year of high school, I was engaged in a summer job selling candy and soft drinks at the ballpark.
              With a pass to see every A's and Phillies game (and I saw most of them), I was the envy of all the kids in my Kensington neighborhood.
              I'd sell my wares for four or five innings, then take a seat and watch the game.  Andwith a number of the ballplayers who had been serving in the military for the past four years being discharged and returning to their old teams, it was an interesting time for any baseball fan.
              Two-time Most Valuable Player and future Hall of Fame slugger Hank Greenberg had served four years in the Army Air Force and was back full time in the lineup of the Detroit Tigers.
              On that muggy day, with the first-place Tigers in town to play the last-place A's in the first of a four-game series, and with my selling chores completed, I was looking forward to possibly watching Greenberg knock one or more baseballs out of the park.
              But I was in for a total surprise.
              On that day, I wouldn't witness any slugging heroics.  What I would get to see was a record-setting game and an unbelievable pitching performance I've never forgotten.
              As I settled comfortably into my seat and perused my 10-cent scorecard, I was aware the A's had already scored a run in the third inning against Tigers starting pitcher Les Mueller.  For the A's, submarine sinkerball pitcher Russ Christopher ---- then the ace of their staff ----- was on the mound and so far had held the Tigers scoreless.
             In the eighth inning, the Tigers' Doc Cramer knocked in a run to tie the score. 
            That would be the last run for either team for the rest of the game.  For the next 16 innings, the Shibe Park scorekeeper would hang nothing but a series of zeroes for both teams.
            The game would go on for 24 innings and eventually be called for darkness, with neither team managing to send another run across the plate.
            Christopher would pitch 13 of those innings for the A's before being lifted, and his reliever, Joe Berry, would throw 11.   Unbelievably, Mueller would continue to throw for the Tigers until there were two outs in the 20th inning.
            Christopher had to have thrown at least 150 pitches, while Mueller's pitches probably exceeded 200.
            In future years, I would see several other pitching performances that seem incredible by today's standards.
            Two come especially to mind.
            On Sept. 6, 1950, I'd watch the Brooklyn Dodgers' Don Newcombe start two games of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader against the first-place Phillies, nicknamed the "Whiz Kids". 
            In the first game, Newcombe would allow only three hits in throwing a 2-0 shutout.  In the second game, he would throw an additional seven innings permitting only two runs.
            Sixteen years later, on Sunday, Oct. 2, 1966, I would sit in the Connie Mack Stadium press box next to Hollywood actor Danny Kaye (a huge Dodger fan who had flown in to Philly to see the final game of the season) and watch the Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax ------ with only two days' rest and pitching with arthritic elbow ----- toss nine innings and defeat Jim Bunning and the Phillies in a pennant-clinching, 6-3 victory.  In that game, Koufax struck out 10, walked just two and won his 27th game of the season against only nine losses.
           Three days earlier, he had pitched nine innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, striking out 13 and walking only one.
           The previous year, he had won 26 games.  He throw 27 complete games in each of the two seasons.
           Today, there is no way a major league pitcher would get to start two games on the same day, or start a game with only two days' rest.  Starting pitchersremaining in a game after six or seven innings is a rarity and complete games are virtually non-existent.
          Yet, looking back to what I consider the "golden age of baseball,"  Phillies Hall of Famepitcher Robin Roberts averaged 24 complete games a year for 10 consecutive seasons (1950-59) and more than 30 complete games a year for three straight years.
          Going back even further, George Herman "Babe Ruth" ------- known far more for his slugging ability than his pitching ----- threw 35 complete games in one season.
          Watching the way the game is played today, I cringe when I see major league pitchers removed from games after seven or eight innings when they have not been scored on.
          What's even more difficult to watch is seeing a starting pitcher throw seven or eight superb shutout innings, get taken out of the game when the magic "100-pitch count" is approached and then suffer through the disaster of a "reliever" blowing the game.
          An all-too-typical example occurred in last Monday evening's Phillies-Washinton game when starting pitcher John Lannan was removed from the game at 109 pitches after holding the Nationals scoreless for eight innings, allowing just four hits and two walks.
          He was replaced by relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, who nearly blew the game by quickly allowing two men to reach base on hits and then two runs to score.
          Some baseball analysts theorize Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who threw seven no-hit games and holds the all-time record of 5,714 strikeouts, exceeded 130 pitches in games more than 300 times in his career.
          My only conclusion from all of this is either a great many of today's pitchers are wimps or too many managers are "over-managing."
          Maybe it's a combination of both.