Did anyone know that the average MLB player's career lasts only 4 years? That is a very short career for a non contact sport, such as football or hockey! When this information was discovered, it was shocking. Who would have thought that a career such as baseball could end so abruptly? Most athletes take the risk of having such a short career because of the high income that accompanies it. Even with all of the money made, their career choice may not be worth the future consequences. Some careers are very minor, like a pulled hamstring, while some can become life altering, such as a torn ACL, or brain damage from a concussion. Careers in sports can become life changing, (either good or bad) and unforgiving. Here are some reasons why.
Burke
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Badenhop's career shows that sports take effort when a player has a family. Sports can make life very hard for players with families. Burke's career gives a sufficient example of how life in professional baseball can become difficult for your average to below average player. Badenhop, a proven Major League talent, has struggled to find work his entire career. He has become forgotten in the offseason settling for 1 year deals every year. When he signs a 1 year deal, he has no financial security if he gets injured. In 2014, even after setting career bests in all major pitching statistics, he still had to settle for a 1 year, minor league deal. A minor league does not carry as much money as a Major League does, and does not even guarantee a spot on a Major League team's roster. Badenhop has played for 6 different teams in the same number of years in his career, making life very hard for his family when he goes off for spring training and eventually regular season games. This traveling, which is already bad enough, made worse by the fact that along with the fact that he is in a relationship, Burke has a 3 ½ year old daughter that he has to bring along. Another example proving that professional sports make life difficult is the case of Edwin Jackson, who has played for 8 Major League clubs and has become trade bait 6 times, both most among active players. Jackson has played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers ,Washington Nationals ,Chicago Cubs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has become a traded player by 6 of those teams. When Edwin played with the White Sox in 2009, he had an All Star caliber season, but he got traded anyway, to the Diamondbacks. While there, he threw a no-hitter, which proves a difficult and somewhat rare feat in baseball. Even after doing that, he then became a member of a new team a month later. Life in professional sports can be very unforgiving, this story being proof. No matter how talented a player that you are, you can always become traded or released by your team at any time. This final story proves that professional sports can sometimes seem unexpected and somewhat amazing. Octavio Dotel holds a very unique record in professional baseball. He has played for thirteen franchises in his career, a major league record. Dotel has claimed this record in only fourteen years. Now here you can read about all of Dotel's trades and free agent signings. Take a deep breath before you read this: "Dotel started his career with the New York Mets as a free agent in 1993. In 1999, Dotel became a member of the Houston Astros via trade. Four years later, in 2004, he got traded to the Oakland Athletics in the three team deal that landed the Astros Carlos Beltran. He then got granted free agency by athletics at the end of the season. He then signed with the New York Yankees and left as a free agent the next season to sign with the Kansas City Royals, who then traded him to the Atlanta Braves after a half of a season. He then signed with the Chicago White Sox in free agency, and after that the Pittsburgh Pirates, who traded him after half a season to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers then traded him again in 2010 to the Rockies to make it three times for him in one season. Dotel then hit the open market at the end of the season, where he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. At midseason with the Jays, he was traded along with three other players- including Edwin Jackson- to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he won a World Series. He then signed with Detroit in the offseason and retired after the 2013 season.” Of all of those teams, Octavio has only played with one for at least 4 years, the Houston Astros. In 2010, Octavio played for 3 different teams. (The Pirates, Rockies, and Dodgers). When he got traded from the Dodgers in mid September, the Dodgers played the Rockies that same day. When the trade became finalized, he manager told to head over to the visiting team's clubhouse before the game started. Octavio actually pitched that night for the Rockies. He said that got the most surprising trade he ever went through, and that got up against five others. One last fact about his trade and free agent history is that Dotel has played in not only the American and National league, but also all three of the Divisions from each one! (AL Central, NL Central, etc…) Dotel stated that he enjoys holding the record and playing for so many teams, but it still proves that you can never get too comfortable in professional sports. Robb Nen was at the top of his game in the 2002 season.
He was one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball. But all of that changed when he tore a shoulder labrum in his throwing towards the end of the season, ending his season, and baseball career, with one injury. It was not any ordinary injury though. In baseball, tearing a shoulder labrum is the scariest injury any player can have. Studies show the fact that from 2000-2005, only 1 Major League pitcher (Rocky Biddle) has ever come back from a shoulder labrum injury to pitch again in the majors. After his injury, Nen tried to make a comeback from the injury for 3 years from 2002-2005. He had 3 surgeries during that time, but after so much hard work and pain, Nen called it quits in 2005. This one case of a shoulder labrum injury can destroy entire careers with one little pop. Nen's shows that injuries in major league baseball can end careers in seconds on the …show more content…
field. In the eyes of regular people, jobs in professional sports seem glamorous and carefree.
That is anything but the truth. Professional athletes face more pressure and hardship than your average person by far. Sure they sign lucrative deals, but that just makes their lives more difficult due to all of the pressures that come with not knowing what to do with all of the money they earn. Take Johnny Manziel for example. He is an extremely talented and gifted athlete, but has allowed his talents to go to waste due to erratic behavior. His NFL career is almost certainly over after the Cleveland Browns released him after he was charged with assault on his ex girlfriend. There are many other professional athletes (Too many to name) that have thrown their careers away because of drugs and simply bad decision making. This will constantly happen when you give kids who have never had much of anything everything they want by signing a
check.
...onclusion, injuries can change the way a game is played. The team's efforts can be stopped or jumpstarted based on the situation in which the injury occurred. The morale of a team is marginally affected by injuries in garbage time, which is the last 4 minutes of a game, where the team is just trying to prevent the opponent from doing anything. Most injuries cause issues later on in life. Concussion victims often have permanent brain damage, which affects their life after retirement. Injuries not only devastate a player, it devastates everything around them.
Players do not deserve the money they receive. There are people who do much more than the players do. Why do teachers not get paid millions of dollars to teach kids? Some of those kids end up going on to become professional athletes. Police officers and firemen risk their lives to keep people safe and most of them do not even make any more than 95 thousand dollars a year (Megerian). These athletes get fined more money than that and hand it over like someone just asked them for one dollar. Players have all of this money and do not even do anything worth earning it. Why do they get this money? It is because fans value athletes more than the important things in life like education and family.
Snap, crackle, pop. That is the horrific sound a baseball pitcher hears after throwing a pitch. The UCL tear used to haunt pitchers forever until 1974, when a man named Tommy John had a surgery to repair his UCL tendon and it was successful causing this surgery to transform baseball. Before his arrival, Tommy John Surgery was known as a “dead arm” injury (Tommy John Surgery). When doctors diagnose players with this injury, it’s no longer a total shock as today you are easily able to come back from this surgery as when 30 years ago, you couldn’t. In my paper I will talk about the basics of the injury, history of the UCL, ways to diagnose a UCL tear, and how to recover from Tommy John surgery along with some unbelievable facts about this distressing injury. This injury and surgery has revolutionized baseball and prolonged the careers of many great players in the MLB.
Most people don’t think of baseball as a high risk injury sport. Unlike football, hockey or boxing, baseball seems tame in comparison. While it’s true that baseball is not a high contact sport, a variety of injuries can occur to the players in virtually every part of the players body but most notably in the shoulder; some of these injuries can be career ending.
In sports, the best athletes are the individuals that give each team a chance to win every game. The bad news for the best athletes is that sometimes their health gets put second to their abilities. Roughly 1.8 to 3.6 million sports related concussions happen each year (Concussion Statistics). Stronger and faster athletes as well as more impact of the hits or falls have doubled the number of concussions in a decade (Concussion Statistics). Concussions can happen to every athlete, but when it happens to the star athletes, it is different. Schools have to follow direct concussion safety laws, but professional sports have more leniencies (Get). Wins are more important in the professional leagues compared to the high school and amateur levels. Wins lead to the coveted playoffs. The playoffs can lead to an even more coveted championship. During the playoffs, the games are shown on national television, seen by millions of fans. In the games, players can shine in the national spotlight. If an athlete performs well that individual can be paid more money in the future. If the coaches win their respective divisions, conferences, make the playoffs, make the championship game, or win the championship, it all leads to a higher pay for the coach. It also leads to more money for the team and city as well. Winning means so much in the professional leagues. But is it really win at all costs? As much as I personally love sports with a passion, I would prefer each player get fully recovered and then come back, rather than rush back still not at one hundred percent. I want my favorite players to play for a long time not for short stints between each injury. The player’s health is way more important to me then the championship. Rushing players back in...
A Career in Sports Medicine As we begin to grow up and come to the end of our high school career we must start to begin to start thinking about what type of career we want to be in. It is very important that a person picks the right type of career for them. Otherwise you will be unhappy with what you are doing and will not enjoy it at all. I am not entirely sure what I want my career to be
Burleigh states, “College ball is dangled as one way out of poverty for big athletic kids. The pot of gold is alluring, and it’s hard not to blame kids for choosing the sport.” (612). Colleges offer scholarships which are a chance at a free education, an opportunity of a lifetime with a possibility of playing NFL. The fact is players will always be the property of the colleges they play for and or team owners who hired them (612). Each and every year there are thousands, upon thousands that dream the dream of playing collegent or professional football. It may be easier to win the lottery, than a spot on an NFL roster. Now add in the potential of serious injury, or a fatality, because the odds without injury are enormous and then a glimmer of the dream dims. There is no guarantee on any level that there will be a success. One devastating injury and the scholarship is rescinded, the player released and the contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Now your education or career is over.
Many people are more active today than they were many years ago. Injury prevention and diagnosis plays a big role in today’s society. Preventing an injury is important for many athletes all over the world, and for people that are physically active. Preventing injuries can benefit an athlete in the long run. Athletic trainers help athletes and physically active people stay healthy for what they do on a daily basis.
Sports are a popular pastime among all ages and types of people. People not only participate in them for fun, but also for money, physical fitness, rush of competition, and for many other personal reasons. Playing sports is especially common among young people in schools. Athletics are great and enjoyable for many reasons, but there can be a point where sports participation can go too far and become negative for children and adults. Sports specialization for young people is an increasing trend that results in sports having a negative impact on individuals and society.
Should professional athletes earn millions of dollars for playing a game? Athletes should not be making millions and millions of dollars while more important jobs earn significantly less. There are doctors who save lives daily and they do not even make a tenth of what some athletes make. It is crazy to believe that someone is really worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and all they have to do is play a sport; a sport that millions of people would play for free if given the chance.
These types of injuries could take upwards to eighteen months to return to playing condition, and in this time an athlete will often fall behind in the sport that they love. This often causes the athlete to quit the sport they once loved because they can no longer truly compete amongst their peers. I know that there has to be a way to accelerate this process of recovery and get those athletes back on the field. This is where my passion for orthopaedics
A lot of Athletes are model citizens that you should really look up to, but there are. also some bad apples in the bunch that ruin it for everyone. Athletes can inspire young people to work hard so that their efforts can pay off, but no one. is pure and flawless. Greed does take a hold of some players, but they do. shouldn't be the ones we devote all of our attention to.
However, it’s in the type of injuries that tend to occur that basketball and football are very different. If someone looked at most of those injuries in basketball, they could see that most of them are not brain injuries, but rather are more than likely broken bones or a sprains. These injuries are nothing compared to the brain trama a player can get from playing football. In football, there have been great players who have retired because the game has gotten too dangerous for them. These men have families they have to support, and if they are relying on football to do so and they get a brain injury they could be seriously hurt or even paralyzed and then all of a sudden they can not support their families anymore so there goes there funds to support them. For instance, Patrick Willis was an extraordinary player who retired because he did not want to risk getting injured playing football. He played football professionally for eight years, playing great when he retired, he was at the top of his game but he chose to to retire, all because the NFL concussion protocol was not strict enough and he didn’t wanna take the chance of getting seriously hurt. “I was drafted number 11 when somebody said I wasn't a top linebacker I felt like I had something to give back. That's why I do the way I go, practice the way I practice, treat people the way I treat them I am so humbled,” This was a quote from Patrick Willis’ retirement speech, when I watched the video of his retirement press conference and I heard him say this, it was honestly saddening to hear this come from him because he was still a great player when he
Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person will make in their life. Most people try to pick the career with the best financial gain and something they would like to do for the rest of their life. Foremost it is wise to see what the job entails. Sport Management is perfect for those who enjoy helping and working with people, especially when dealing with sports. The next part of the decision-making process is looking through the various schooling and training required. Lastly, take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages. Usually with great salaries comes a big responsibility with high stress. “The sports industry in the U.S. is a $200-billion-dollar-plus powerhouse, with superstar athletes, lucrative endorsement deals, and all the free press an ego can handle” (Lawyue 1). The profession of a sport management professional has a very specific work description, requires specific schooling and training, and comes with a variety of benefits and disadvantages.
“He’s at the 40, the 30, the 20, the 10, the 5, TOUCHDOWN!!” Can you imagine the joy of having 100,000 people chanting your name and cheering as loud as they could just for you? Now try imagine having all of that, then having it taken away because you tested positive for illegal drugs. This is the harsh reality for several professional athletes. They get a small taste of greatness but instead of working harder they take a drug and immediately notice improvement. So they take some more until they become completely dependent on the drug for success.