Page 10
THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1979
Bad eyes bad news for athletes
Victory!
Battalion photo by Clay Cockrill
Darrell Waltrip, winner of Sunday’s Texas 400 victory sign. Waltrip is the current leader in
at Texas World Speedway, rolls toward the the Winston Cup point standings, which is
winner’s circle holding his hand high with the given to the top NASCAR stock car driver.
v
100 m.p.h. fastball
Ryan keep rocketing
United Press International
ANAHEIM — At age seven Nolan
Ryan discovered he could throw a
baseball faster than anyone in his
neighborhood.
Twenty-five years later, the
neighborhood has become the major
leagues for the California Angels’
power-pitcher.
As he progressed through Little
League and junior baseball as a
pitcher, he began working on the
skills that today make him the fastest
and most feared pitcher in baseball.
There are many in the majors
today who would rather take the
night off than face Ryan. For n^ mat
ter what the ballplayers admit pub
licly, human nature decrees that you
retain a fear of a rock-hard object
buzzing under your chin at 100 mph.
Anyone who has played organized
baseball when very young can sym
pathize with the kids Ryan pitched
against in the Refugio, Texas, Little
Leagues. When you’re young, the
fear of a pitcher sticking the ball in
your ear is often overpowering. You
bat with your feet closer to the dug-
out than home plate and every mus
cle is tensed for that dive to the dirt
that you know is inevitable.
“Oh geez,” they must’ve said, -
“Ryan’s pitching again.”
And today they say the same
thing.
“When I was just a kid I realized I
had the ability to throw a baseball
that far exceeded that of kids my
age,” the author of four major league
no-hitters said. “It was a God-given
ability and I took advantage of it.
“No matter how hard someone
works at pitching, if you don’t have
that natural ability to throw real hard
it’s no use.
“It’s a combination of things for
me,” Ryan explained. “Arm speed,
leg strength, wrist flexibility, hip ro
tation — it all combines for a natural
speed thrower.”
The 6-2, 195-pound righthander
threw a baseball during a game Aug.
20, 1974 against the Detroit Tigers
that was clocked at 100.9 mph. He
was clocked at 100.8 mph later that
season against the Chicago White
Sox.
In addition to his all-time record
equalling four no-hitters, Ryan has
recorded six one-hitters, 13 two-
hitters and 22 three-hitters.
And his arm, though injured in
three different seasons, always has
come back to prove it can take the
punishment of long workouts with
out fatigue. In games in which the
Angels have had a lead at the end of
seven innings with Ryan pitching, he
has recorded a 95-2 record. If you
don’t get to Ryan early, you don’t get
to him at all.
A pitcher who throws as hard as
Ryan is extremely rare. A pitcher
who throws that hard and lasts very
long before his arm turns to pudding
is even more rare.
Ryan has suffered a string of arm
injuries, the most serious in 1975
when surgery was required on his
right elbow. In 1977 his season was
cut short by an arm injury and last
season more stiffness and soreness
hampered him and he stumbled to a
10-13 record.
But Ryan claims the wing is as
strong as ever and he hopes to con
tinue for awhile. He lost his first start
this season — Seattle got to him in a
hurry — but he won his next three on
a 3-hitter, 4-hitter and 2-hitter and
appeared to be winging with the
verve of old.
“I can forsee pitching for three or
four more years,” he said. “But any
injury that reduces my velocity could
end it anytime. When I lose that
fastball. I’m gone. I’m too old to try
to learn an entirely new pitching
style and learn how to throw new
pitches.”
For the batters that step into the
box a little slower, dig in a little less
and lean back a little more, the end of
Ryan’s career can’t come too soon.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Promising
athletes who never seem to live up to
their potential may have eye prob
lems.
Dr. Donald J. Getz, a Van Nuys,
Calif., optometrist, says he is con
cerned with quarterbacks who may
have 20-20 vision but have problems
finding secondary receivers, basket
ball players who are poor ball-
handlers and tennis and baseball
players who take their eye off the
ball.
Getz’ premise is that many prob
lem athletes, whether they play in
the National Football League or on a
neighborhood tennis court, can be
helped through a series of eye exer
cises.
“Most professional athletes have
good visual abilities or they would
not be where they are, but, just as a
good piano player can be taught to be
a better piano player, an athlete can
be taught to have superior visual
skills and better performance will re
sult,’’ said Getz, writing in the
American Optometric Association
Journal.
“One of the major difierences be
tween super stars like Jerry West
and Oscar Robertson and other Na
tional Basketball Association players
appears to be their great peripheral
vision.”
“All players can develop this skill
as well as the other visual skills,” said
Getz.
Asked in a telephone interview to
single out a performer who needs
visual help, Getz suggested James
Harris, the former Los Angeles Ram
who is now a backup quarterback
with the San Diego Chargers.
Harris, Getz said, “was sensa
tional in practice and also great in
throwing to primary receivers.” But
he had trouble locating secondary
receivers and seeing rushers closing
in on him.
“Harris never saw them, he never
tucked the ball away and when he
was hit, he fumbled.”
Getz said his comments about
athletes were aimed basically at
those who believed they had good
vision.
To determine problems, Getz
gives his athlete-patients a series of
tests designed to determine their
abilities and reactions. He measures
such things as peripheral vision, how
fast visual information can be trans
lated into action, balance problems
and the ability to handle a ball over
head.
The program takes about three
months and results are more or less
permanent. “Once you develop the
skill, every time you use the skill, it
becomes more developed,” he said.
“In addition, athlete! .
form significantly betteiR
balance than when out n'gjj
who have great naturalpoR
never perform up totljR
might also have visualR
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