Quote:
Originally Posted by RchW
Wrong. It's a different paradigm now. Back in the "good old days" there was less science in the diagnosis of injury and there was more depth in terms of affordable replacements. That led to,
- Players playing through injuries that today they would be told to not to play with (see concussions).
- Minor injuries are addressed earlier and often lead to major surgery. See here
- In the past, Litsch would just have faded from the game, another sore arm casualty who was replaced by the next pitcher in line. He may still fade but it will be with a good arm.
- Young players are routinely told to sit for extended time periods in order to protect the investment. Check any minor league roster.
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I think part of the problem is that athletes are constantly having surgery for conditions that are not going to severely impact their career. It may cause discomfort, but almost every normal person experiences discomfort and doesn't get surgery for every ailment that they have. Players these days spend ridiculous amounts of time recovering from surgery that they didn't always need to have. And then they don't recover from surgery properly, or something goes wrong, and instead of knee discomfort they have a lot more serious problems.
You don't see the guys like Mickey Mantle anymore. Back in the day guys could be perenially hurt but still play through things because it was the only way they could play. Today, Mickey Mantle would be having surgery every offseason and who knows if he would have ever actually been on the field.