Editor's Letter: About those curveballs

last updated 8 January 2015

The occasional twinge in my right elbow has always carried with it the sting of remorse. The joint seems to act up in the late winter, with the news of pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training. The feeling is something close to guilt, because I was sure that I had damaged my elbow as a stubborn 11-year-old who refused to listen to the adults who warned: “Stop throwing that curveball.” Everyone agreed that curving a baseball puts too much strain on a skinny young arm and would result in an injury sooner or later. I paid them no mind. My slow, sinking curve brought glory to our team; the intoxicating power of striking out my opponents proved impossible to resist. “What am I saving myself for?” I thought. “I’ve got one more year before Little League is over.” Like Faust, I figured I’d pay for these lush innings when the devil presented his bill.

But it turns out the check never came. As The New York Times reported this week, a new study has concluded that curveballs pose no greater risk to young arms than any other pitch. Examining 1,300 pitchers, from 8-year-olds to college athletes, researcher Johna Mihalik put the lie to an old coach’s tale. “There was no association between throwing curveballs and injuries or even arm pain,” Mihalik said. Sweet vindication! I had not, after all, damaged myself. But my satisfaction faded when I realized what the study really meant about those twinges: They are not the price of my glory days on the field, but a more prosaic reminder of all the subsequent seasons I’ve spent watching from the sidelines.