TOWER GROVE - The last time he threw an inning was just before Labor Day and the next time he throws a pitch it will be the last time for at least two years.
His elbow just cannot take
it anymore.
Gerry Gerkens, a former Central
Missouri State University pitcher,
is one of 40 local men taking
T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, Mo., on Saturday with the goal of playing at least 30 hours, 6 minutes of baseball. In an event to benefit Gene
Slay's Boys Club of St. Louis, two scores of players will be going for the Guinness World Record for longest baseball game played. The current record is 30 hours, 5 minutes. The goal this weekend: At least 32 hours.
An official from Guinness is
coming from London to certify
the record Sunday.
Gerkens, 43, will go for Tommy
John surgery eight days later.
"What other opportunity any I'm going to have to be a part of a world record?" Gerkens said. "This is my shot. What's one more week (before surgery), if I'm going to have to wait two more years to do it again?"
The event - which you can learn all about at its official Web site - was organized by Steve
Pona and Chuck
Williams, two guys who
met through the St. Louis-area
Men's Senior Baseball League. Gerkens got an email about the game some time ago, volunteered to play in it and then forgot about it until this summer. That was when the organizers gained momentum. The Guinness rules to break the record are strict. They include having two teams of 20 players, split into squads of 10. Those 10 players for each team will alternate play. No new players can join. If a players leaves the premises, he cannot return to the game without jeopardizing the record.
Play will continue through
the night Saturday and on to
the record Sunday afternoon.
(Check out Joe Holleman's article on the game here.)
The squads will be using wood
bats and wearing throwback uniforms
from the 1944 St. Louis Browns
and from the 1928 St. Louis Stars.
The rosters are diverse. The
players range in age from 25
to 50, with the average age being
41. They include a middle school
principal, a bass player/singer
for the band Delicious Fishes,
a lefthanded-hitting photographer
from Channel 5, a cancer survivor,
a promoter, a sportscaster from
KMOX (who is telling anyone who
listens that he's pulling a Mickey Mantle and going yard from both sides of the plate), a police sargeant, an EMS tech .
And a sportswriter.
I'm told I'll be starting in center field Saturday. Batting fifth. Pitching when (thankfully!) nobody is watching early, early, early Sunday morning.
My hammy is already barking.
Rarely does this blog veer
from its usual tracks - it's a blog about the Cardinals, about baseball, rarely about the misadventures of its writer. But this weekend we'll make an exception as long as there is interest from readers.
Throughout the record-setting
attempt, I plan to live blog
here in Bird Land about the event,
about the score, about my slumps,
my hot streaks (ha!), my errors,
my injuries, Kevin Wheeler's whiffs, and, most of all, the guys I'm playing alongside. They've got stories worth telling. A live feed of the event will be available on the official site and we may get some photos up here in Bird Land. Admission is free (donation requested, though) if you want to swing by the ballpark.
I got involved for the same
reason many of the guys did.
Wanted to play baseball. Thought
it'd be cool to try to break a world record, yanking it out of Alliance, Neb., and bringing it to St. Louis.
For his 40th birthday, Gerkens
went to the Cardinals' Legends Camp and "got the itch to play again." He found a place in the Mens Senior Baseball League, but also found a problem in his arm. Back in 1987, Gerkens was a righthanded hurler for CMSU and felt some discomfort in his elbow. He kept pitching. That caused problems in his shoulder. He kept pitching. A couple years ago he had to have surgery on his rotator cuff and his labrum just so he could return to pitching.
After every outing, his elbow
would swell.
First for a few days. Then for
a few more days. It got "progressively worse after each time," he said. Now it takes three weeks before he feels like he can throw again.
Gerkens is scheduled to throw
Sunday morning - mainly because he isn't sure he can play in the field after he pitches. He's good for 2 1/2 or three hours of work (because when it comes to this record, it's hours that matter, not innings). Gerkens will be out there as the clock tells us were nearing the record. He'll go as best and as hard as the elbow will let him, because the ligament needs to be replaced anyway so there isn't an risk of further damage. And then, Oct. 22, he'll go for surgery.
That's when another clock starts ticking for him. The rehab clock.
Hey, some pitchers come back
throwing stronger after Tommy
John.
"I think," Gerkens said, "I'll just settle for throwing again."
Link to article
