Being a baseball fan, and in particular a fan of the Braves even before they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta; and being also a fan of Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who joined the team in 1989 and retired in 2009, all but the last of those 21 seasons spent with Atlanta, I could not resist listening to Jonah Keri’s interview with Smoltz.
Smoltz was an outstanding starting pitcher who became a fabulous relief pitcher, a closer, who eventually moved back to the starting rotation, where, again, he excelled. Smoltz was superb in both the regular season and the post-season. And because Atlanta was so good for so long—starting in 1991, the team won the division pennant 14 consecutive seasons—Smoltz effectively pitched an extra season over his long career. You can easily look up all of the statistics that demonstrate just how good, even great, he was.
Atlanta had three excellent starters during the 1990s: Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux. Each was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In the interview, Smoltz says we won’t see again another such “Big Three” like Atlanta’s. But it’s more doubtful that we’ll see many pitchers like the great Smoltz, the starter then reliever then starter again, who battled through injuries and surgeries to make his unusual mark upon the game.
In the interview, Smoltz talks about the trade with Detroit in 1988 that brought the 21-year-old right-hander to Atlanta; the rise of the Braves’ Big Three (“we became the pitchers we wanted to be”); the importance of good starting pitching; 1993, the year of the last great pennant race, when the Braves came back to beat the Giants by a single game (“we thought we could chase them down”); 1994, the year of the players strike, which ended the season prematurely, in August; 1993 and 1996, years the Braves were good enough to win the World Series, but didn’t; Smoltz’s Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in 2000; his transition to the bullpen (“hardest thing I’ve ever done”); the playoffs as a crap shoot; and more.
Smoltz is a keen student of the game. Not surprisingly, a major concern of his is the state of pitching today. Starters and relievers both are being encouraging to throw as hard as they can, he says. As a result, starters are pitching fewer innings than they should and relievers are burning out within a few years, if they throw for that long. Smoltz sees careers being shortened, and pitchers “missing out on greatness.”
This is great stuff. Listen here.
