We don't often think of professional athletes improving with age, but Jamie Moyer was a better pitcher in his 40s than he was in his 20s. Moyer became the oldest pitcher to win a Major League Baseball game when, in April 2012, at the age of 49 years, 150 days, he pitched the Colorado Rockies to a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres.
Moyer's story isn't just the tale of a talented guy who hung on to his game a little longer than others. He managed to gain control of the mental side of his sport — and he did it with the help of a gruff, self-taught sports psychologist named Harvey Dorfman. Moyer pitched for eight teams, but his best years were with the Seattle Mariners, where he became an all-star, and the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was a starter in a World Series run.
Moyer chronicles his journey in a new book, Just Tell Me I Can't: How Jamie Moyer Defied the Radar Gun and Defeated Time. The memoir, which he co-wrote with writer Larry Platt, is full of inside-baseball tales: how he got inside hitters' heads, worked umpires to get a better strike zone, and learned to use his teeth — yes, his teeth — to tell his catcher he was changing the location of the pitch he was throwing.
The audio story at the link is very cool from a sports and life psychology perspective, even if you're not a baseball fan.
"Liberalism is arbitrarily selective in its choice of whose dignity to champion." Adrian Vermeule
As usual, the Padres are in the story of a non-padre winning something or breaking a record. The Padres are the Washington generals of Major league baseball.
Arms are the only true badge of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of the free man from the slave.
'The Mental Game of Baseball' by Dorfman and Kuehl is a great book that touches far beyond the playing field, and is applicable to the bigger game of life. Highly recommended.
