I was perusing The Washington Times sports section this morning when I came accross this article on the presumed number one pick in Tuesday's baseball draft, Stephen Strasburg. As I stated in a post a few days back, some folks think Strasburg, with his 100+ MPH fastball, will be the Nationals' saviour. The Times article tells how San Diego State baseball coach Tony Gywnn has limited Strasburg's innings in an attempt to not damage Strasburg's arm prior to him beginning his professional career.
One thing the online version of the article does not include is the sidebar from the print edition which details the struggles (to put it nicely) of the pitchers who have been drafted with one of the top five picks in recent drafts. Everyone know the struggles Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have had with arm injuries. But lesser known are the travails of Matt Anderson, the overall number one pick in the 1997 draft. Anderson injured his arm, but not on the pitching mound. I'll use this direct quote from Wikipedia to describe Anderson's situation:
Anderson holds the dubious distinction of being the only player to injure himself in an octopus throwing contest. During a Detroit Red Wings game at the Joe Louis Arena, Anderson participated in an octopus throwing contest in an effort to win Red Wings playoff tickets and tore a muscle in the armpit of his throwing arm as a result. After returning from the injury, he was unable to hit 90 mph on his fastball in his remaining days in Detroit, after regularly topping 100 mph on the radar gun, including a high mark of 103 mph twice.
After reading about Anderson, I decided the Nationals should put a clause in Strasburg's contract prohibiting him from being within 500 feet of any nautical creatures, dead or alive, especially squid or octopus. So, I hope Strasburg doesn't calamri.
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