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What if....players?

Robert Sorell said:
Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

With Zambrano the Cubs could have had a run of dominant pitching to rival what Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz did for the Braves.

The way Dusty Baker wore them out likely precipitated the transition to religiously monitoring pitch counts and innings limits.

Wood recovered OK, and still had a very nice career, but he could have done twice as much of his arm had held up better. Prior was even better than Wood, and never got it back after his first surgery.
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Prior’s shoulder looked like a bomb had gone off inside it.

Then you add on his collision with Marcus Giles and taking a 100 mph liner right off his pitching elbow…
 
CarolinaBuff said:
The 30 for 30 on Marcus Dupree is one of my favorites and is so aptly named. And despite all the issues that prevented him from coming remotely close to what he could have been he seems totally at peace, just driving a truck these days.
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Dupree is the guy that really comes to mind. He got mixed up with the wrong advisor(s) in HS and college, and then the horrendous knee injury. True testament to him for coming back, making an NFL roster and getting those few carries with the Rams. A healthy Dupree was a world beater. His HS film was something else, as was that Fiesta Bowl performance. I shutter to think of the # of records that he could have broken.

Herschel Walker is another guy. If not USFL and they used him right in the NFL, he could have broke tons of records.

Earl Campbell was a unicorn, but this running style was not for the long haul. He did have a special short career like TD. I'm glad that they both made the HOF.

Talk about a great career after a knee injury, Joe Nameth was very special and did some great things, but he would have been an all-time Great sans the knee injury.

In baseball, Steve Howe and J.R. Richard. In Howe I had never seen a such a hard-throwing lefty. Another one did not come along until Billy Wagner 17 years later. JR Richard's career sadly ended due to a stroke.
 
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Buffnik said:
John Daly. Elite distance and great touch. Won 2 majors despite being an alcoholic. He could have had a Mickelson level career.
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Here’s the thing with Daly: he made the choice to be a fat slob. With a lot of these other players, they had an injury or weird health circumstances that impacted their trajectory. For Daly, it was all self imposed.
 
Not Sure said:
Here’s the thing with Daly: he made the choice to be a fat slob. With a lot of these other players, they had an injury or weird health circumstances that impacted their trajectory. For Daly, it was all self imposed.
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I'm not in agreement with respect to alcoholism. Very few of us have never drank, drank to excess or binge drank in our lives. But most of us were fortunate enough to not have that gene that caused those choices to result in anything worse than a hangover.
 
Buffnik said:
I'm not in agreement with respect to alcoholism. Very few of us have never drank, drank to excess or binge drank in our lives. But most of us were fortunate enough to not have that gene that caused those choices to result in anything worse than a hangover.
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I'm mixed on this one. I agree some have a crazy addict button that is virtually impossible to supress when exposed to the toxin for which they are hard-wired. Some also just say **** it - I like it, consequences be damned.

I couldn't tell you what % fit in each category.
 
Highlander said:
I'm mixed on this one. I agree some have a crazy addict button that is virtually impossible to supress when exposed to the toxin for which they are hard-wired. Some also just say **** it - I like it, consequences be damned.

I couldn't tell you what % fit in each category.
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The genetic connection is now medically proven fact. It is absolutely not just a matter of willpower.

Combined with that though there also tends to be a culture in families that normalizes use of the addictive substance be it alcohol or other drugs. What others on the outside see as problems people in the family think of as regular parts of life. Lose a job because of missing work or showing up under the influence, well that happened to dad and my uncles, get arrested for public intoxication, for DUI, etc., well what's wrong with having a good time. This stuff goes back in the family as long as anyone can remember. They even tend to marry into other families where it is also the norm.

This does't excuse people from their actions and from continuing their addictions but when we ask why somebody doesn't realize their behavior and change it often isn't as easy as we think it is. Having spent my career working with a lot of kids out of these exact situations it's very hard to escape when that escape means accepting that everything you grew up thinking was right, including you, isn't.
 
I was always a big fan of The Boz. What if he had not had the shoulder issues?
And of course Salaam, between the injuries and pot. I think he could have been special.
 
GRM said:
J.R. Richard. JR Richard's career sadly ended due to a stroke.
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Saw JR Richard pitch in the Astrodome back in the day. Dude threw hard. I am friends with a guy who caught him in the minors. Said he threw harder than anybody he ever saw and was a nightmare to hit/catch because it seemed the ball left his hand 53' from the plate due to his height and reach.
 
Josh Hamilton who had a few great years with the TX Rangers fits into this category. Massively talented prospect, All-star, MVP, Silver Slugger. Dealt with significant alcohol/drug issues as well as injuries. Hall of Fame type talent.
 
Bison said:
Bo Jackson...what if he didn't have that freak hip injury?
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He's one I mentioned, his injury was not something you see often. It was something called avascular necrosis or some shvt. Something about the blood flow being cut off to the bone. And, yes, I looked it up. If we have anybody besides fvcking lawyers, maybe y'all could explain that.😃 It said something about a chip off his hip floating around as well. Maybe they just didn't know enough at the time, Idk?
 
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