For some people I was the villain, no question, Williams said. I know
whatever I do, I'll be remembered for that. I don't want my career to end with
the last two seasons the way they were. The kind of guy he is, if his career had
been ended by a runaway beer truck in '93, he would have called it great. It was
the best year he ever had. He wasn't a tidy closer. He pitched at the brink of
disaster all the time. Jim Fregosi cringed, didn't especially like him, but he
knew Wild Thing accepted the call. He pitched in 65 games, struck out 60 in 62
innings and had 43 saves.(Steve Jacobson,1995) How quickly that was forgotten.
Williams yesterday recalled the soccer player who was the national goat of the
'94 World Cup, went home to Colombia and was shot dead in the street. Williams
got death threats.(Steve Jacobson,1995) Eggs and stones were thrown at his
house. I could take it, he said. But my wife and kid were in the house. Threats
on his life were phoned to the ball club. Cops were stationed near his home.
They didn't tell me until I saw cops at the park the next day, he said.(Steve
Jacobson,1995) He didn't sleep after Carter's home run, either. What some of us
recall was that SkyDome was filled with joyous thunder and the Phillies'
clubhouse was the Atlanta railroad station from Gone With the Wind. Players sat
in stunned silence while Wild Thing whipped himself before waves of questioners.
Some guys have to interview the guy who hit the home run and some the guy who
threw it, he said yesterday. I wasn't going to run from it.(Steve Jacobson,1995)
He was traded to Houston that December. Perhaps it was because his market value
was peak, perhaps it was because Philadelphia couldn't be expected to forgive,
perhaps it was because he had lost some of his fastball as the season wore him
down. He was what Boone called an adrenaline-pitcher. He threw himself at the
batter as hard as he could. I always thought the pressure was my advantage,
Williams said. The hitter wants to be the hero - the ego thing.
They swing at pitches they normally wouldn't.(Steve Jacobson,1995) He went
from 43 saves to six with Houston to none with California, to a struggling
half-season in the minors that ended last August when the Phillies decided he'd
never get himself together to be of value to them again. The home run didn't
change me, he said. What bothered me was everybody saying my fastball was going
away. (Steve Jacobson,1995) So he tried to throw harder to prove them wrong.
Ralph Branca said Bobby Thomson's home run didn't bother him, it was trying to
prove it didn't bother him that ruined his arm. I tried to throw 100 and ruined
my mechanics, Williams said. I was going to prove them wrong. In the process I
proved them right. (Steve Jacobson,1995) Now of course my report just tells of
two cases, of which a player choked and after that could not recover from it. I
am sure there has been players that have given up the game winner and came back
to have good careers. I can't use Mark Wohlers, who gave up the base hit to
Edgar Renteria in the 1997 World Series, he also has hit a downfall in his
career. I can't use him in my report because although the problem is
psychological. I personally don't think it has to do with the game winning hit
he gave up because no one placed much emphasis on him. They instead focused on
Edgar Renteria's base hit. Did you know that Greg Maddox gave up the game
winning home run to Steve Finley this year to give The San Diego Padres the NL
pennant? He is one the best pitchers to ever play the game. So what can come
from this report. Well, basically nothing if you asked me. Kicker and closers no
that they have to go through the pressure of the game they are in. Also, you
have to understand, these players are the cream of the crop and still make allot
of money by our standards. The average closer makes about 2.5 million a year in
baseball because it is such an overwhelmingly demanding position. It take allot
of skill and craft. Most closer are not young. The youngest successful closer in
Kary Lightenburg. Keep in mind though it is his first year. Older pitchers are
closer because that can handle the pressure, but how can an pitcher, not just an
old pitcher, take the stress he must endure to keep his job and do it
effectively. The same goes for the NFL. The NFL wants gritty vets who get the
job done, and can do it with a little leg. Sports “Choking” isn’t a life
threatning disease. It is just a condition that happens when pressure situations
arise the player, who would normally be able to make it doesn’t because of the
pressure the can come with that situation. The experment deals with pressure
situations and tells weather there is such a situation.
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