Managers often second-guessed when removing pitchers from a game - Warm Up Tosses - "L'aquila Italiana" on American League Baseball - Statistical Data Included

Baseball Digest, July, 2002 by John Kuenster

How many clubs have more than two top-notch starting pitchers who can be expected or are physically equipped to go the distance every time they take the mound?

When many managers get to their 3rd, 4th and possibly 5th starter, they're ready to summon help from the bullpen on a moment's notice. They don't have the same options their counterparts had in the days of Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Bob Gibson or Fergie Jenkins who in their prime finished 50 per cent or more of the games they started.

Other than the silly innovation of the designated hitter rule in the American League, the expanded employment of relief pitching represents the biggest change in the essence of the game at the major league level over the last 30 years.

That being the case, the door remains wide open for second-guessers, sometimes unfairly, to pick apart a manager's cerebral powers.

Long-retired Hall of Fame manager Al Lopez chuckled when he was asked to expound on the current tendency to deny starting pitchers the opportunity of finishing so many of their games.

"I can't see why they put so much stress on counting pitches," he said. "Early Wynn used to throw as many as 140 pitches a game. He worked a lot of batters to a 3-and-2 count. But, if he was throwing good, I saw no reason to take him out.

"My goodness, Carl Hubbell once pitched an entire 18-inning game, and came back for another start with only two or three days' rest. And, he threw the screwball, the toughest pitch on the arm."

As a manager for the Indians and White Sox, Lopez worked with many highly regarded starters including Wynn, Feller and Bob Lemon, all Hall of Famers, as well as Billy Pierce who also belongs in Cooperstown.

What motivated him to relieve a starter?

"Maybe, I had an advantage because I was a catcher in my playing days," he said about his sense of knowing when to remove a starter from a game.

"It doesn't take a genius to know how well a pitcher is throwing. If all of a sudden, he's being hit hard, and if his pitches are starting to come in high, then you get ready to make your move."

Sparky Anderson, another Hall of Fame manager, piloted World Series winners in Cincinnati (1975 and 1976) and Detroit (1984). What does he think about the precipitous decline in complete-games pitched?

"We're creating arms with no strength," he said. "A lot of managers don't want their starters to go past the sixth inning. They want the bullpen to finish it.

"I never worried about the pitch count. Now, you've got minor league coordinators who get upset if a young starter goes over 100 pitches. They'll say, `Get him out of there.'"

So, even in the minors, big league prospects are not conditioned to go the distance.

"They're being protected," Anderson said.

Sparky didn't actually say it, but he thinks today's managers are babying their starters, and he told a couple of anecdotes to underline his sentiment.

"When I was at Detroit, Jack Morris was a fighter, tough as nails," he said about his ace starter. "If I went to the mound with the idea of taking him out, he'd say to me, `I don't want some other guy ruining this game. If anybody is going to ruin it, I'll do it myself.' So, I'd leave him in, and let him work his way out of whatever problem had developed.