Pitchers, but not all

 The Tribune ran a page-one story a few days ago about a rule change being considered by the Illinois High School Authority, the governing body for high-school sports in the state.  The IHSA is looking to institute some sort of pitch limit, this after some clown coach let one of his players throw 167 (!) pitches in a game this spring.  The clown coach said he asked the player how he felt, and, “He told me that he could keep going.  I trust him when he says that he has something left.”  Right, because a 17- or18-year old is mature enough to be honest with himself and the person asking.

The story pretty much blames the high incidence of teenaged athletes needing Tommy John surgery on perceived need to deliver—for the travel coach, the high school coach, the visiting college coach and the pro scout.  All any or one of those fellows has to do is raise an eyebrow, and the pitcher is going to kick it into high gear, which means throwing hard, which leads to elbow injuries.

A pitch limit would help, to an extent.  The problem will be enforcing it across all areas of play.  The IHSA can only control the actions of athletes in season; anything that happens at a travel or college showcase tournament is out of its control.  Then what?  Personally, I like Bernie Sanders’ idea of free college tuition.  That would eliminate one reason compelling teenaged pitchers to try to throw the ball through a wall.

Missing from the story was any mention of softball pitchers.  Gosh, I wonder why.  Research must show that girls never get injured.  Yeah, right.