With over a month gone by in the Major League Baseball season, I think it’s high time to address a concerning trend: baseball pitchers keep throwing harder and harder. Thirty years ago, anyone who could reach 90 mph was a fastball ace. Now, for every big league hurler, 90 is the minimum, and there are several who routinely hit triple digits. A fireball does not come without consequence, and Tommy John surgeries on pitchers are up.

The year 2023 saw more Tommy John surgeries than in the entire 1990s. And its not just occurring in the big leagues, either. High school pitchers are now needing the procedure. If blazing heat is the way to get to the majors, who can fault a talented youth hurler for giving it his all? And so here we are, with pitchers throwing as hard as possible all the time, injuries piling up, pitchers on a pitch count, and clubs having half of their roster be pitchers. When you throw as hard as you can all the time, you can only do that for so long. So clubs need plenty and plenty of arms. Baseball has become a game of a power pitcher trying to strike everyone out. Call me old fashioned, but I’m a big fan of a pitcher going the distance, finessing their way to the victory.

The early years of baseball were often called the Deadball Era, as hitters weren’t swinging for the fences. One of the tools in the pitching arsenal was the spitball. It has been banned from baseball since 1920, though practitioners of it were allowed to keep throwing it. But it’s still around. Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry used it so much, his autobiography was called “Me and the Spitter.” Of course, what Perry was doing was cheating. I’m suggesting baseball allow the spitter back in. With this pitch in a hurler’s arsenal, he wouldn’t have to throw so hard all the time. Pitching arm injuries would be down, and with pitchers not throwing so hard all the time, they could pitch longer. Less injuries and more innings thrown: rosters would not need to have so many pitchers on it. And think how much strategy would come in: instead of having to focus on hitting the fastest pitch possible, batters would now have to guess what’s coming: fastball, curve, change-up, or spitter. What a game of chance! And before you fear the sanitary aspect, in the Deadball Era, a single ball might be used the entire game.

Today, a single MLB game averages 108 different balls used. So if a pitcher throws a spitball, just change the ball out the next pitch. Sure, maybe that increases the number of balls used in a game, but that expense has to be way less than a pitcher who throws nothing but heat needing surgery and missing the season. May I remind you the average MLB salary is $5 million; how many replacement baseballs for spitters would that cost?

Too much of anything is never good and right now, baseball arms are being worn down in the quest for speed. Let’s bring variety back to the game and save some pitching arms while we’re at it. Gone for 105 years, it’s time to bring the spitball back. And if that doesn’t work… may I offer you the knuckleball?

Tim Anderson lives in Amherst.