10 Things In Sports It Would Be Cool To See—#6
(Sometimes the rules and strategy involved in a game can prevent us from seeing an athlete’s true skills in action. For example, the presence of teammates can prevent repeated one-on-one confrontations, and the flow of a game can prevent an athlete from repeatedly attempting a difficult challenge. My question is, if there were no rules, no games, no standings, no teammates, and no trophies to worry about, what kind of things would an athlete be able to do. In no particular order, here are 10 things in sports I’d like to see.)
#6–A real test for Vladimir Guerrero’s Arm
Don’t run on Vladimir Guerrero. Along with “Don’t let Jose Canseco inject you”, it has become on of the cardinal rules of baseball. But exactly how good is his arm? It’s hard to judge from the one time a week he gets to show it off. That’s why I want to see a real test for Guerrero’s arm that will show just how far away he can be and still have a real shot at throwing somebody out who is tagging from third base.
For my test Guerrero will have to deal with an above average runner—let’s say teammate Orlando Cabrera. Guerrero will start in fairly shallow right field and a coach will hit 20 fly balls to him. If Guerrero throws out Cabrera 25% percent of the time he moves back 15 or 20 feet and gets 20 more fly balls. He keeps moving back until he fails to hit the 25% mark. In order compare him to other major leaguers, perhaps Johnny Damon could start on 2nd base and go throw for throw with Vladimir (assuming he makes it past the first round).
What will the results be? Will Guerrero still have a shot at throwing Cabrera out from just a few feet in front of the warning track, or will he struggle once he gets fairly deep? Whatever the results are, they should finally show just how much strength and accuracy Guerrero has in his arm.
Also see…
#10—Albert Pujols vs John Parrish…100 times
#9—1 on 1 NBA draft workouts
#8—LaDainian Tomlinson vs. Brian Urlacher
#7—Tiger Woods shooting for a hole in one
#5—NFL-style workouts by non-NFL athletes
#4—A real NBA shooting contest
#3—A college basketball game with no three point line
#2—A 3 on 3 hockey game
#1—Albert Pujols vs. Johan Santana…100 times
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