"DIVE, DIVE DIVE!" is for submarine movies.
But in baseball?
It can be hazardous to your health.
And to your team’s future success.
Guys who dove a lot and missed a lot of time, in whole or in part, because of their diving:
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Juan Lagares
Current big hitters who got hurt diving:
Aaron Judge - if he needs rib surgery, he will miss most of 2020.
J.D. Davis - seems to have dodged a bullet.
Tommie Agee dove in the 1969 World Series, as did Ron Swoboda. For both, their dives were do-or-die critical.
But often, the dive is NOT do-or-die.
Don’t dive, unless it is a do-or-die situation. We need you healthy, boys.
you can't stop from diving...
ReplyDeleteit is part of a ballplayer's natural instinct...
Mack, I hear ya - and if guys missed a week, I'd agree.
ReplyDeleteBut diving helped ruin Wright's career. Screwed Lagares' career, too.
It set Reyes back a lot.
Judge may miss a year's time (if he needs surgery) because he dove.
And JD? He seems like he'll be OK, so he got lucky. Even more so because he did it in a meaningless spring game.
My solution? Feet first slides - legs being stronger than hands. And tell yourself ahead of time that you won't dive unless it is do or die. Because not making a play here or there is preferable to missing a year, or ruining a career.