During the last NLCS, I asked Brandon Backe of the Astros what the hardest thing was for him in making the conversion from outfielder to pitcher in the minors. He said it was "not playing every day." That is why I would rather be a slugger, to answer your question. I'd want my mind and body to be in every inning of every game. I wouldn't want to be one elbow injury away from a possible end of my career or a lost year. I listened to Nolan Ryan talk at the last All-Star FanFest in Houston about how he would have to "rebuild" his body from one start to the next, an incredibly arduous process that the great pitchers know and few fans realize. Ryan would be on the bike immediately after each start, and he said his physical strength would go down to about 50 percent a day or two after each start, and then his mission was to get it back up to 100 percent by the next start. As the slugger you mentioned, I'd love to be in that zone of hitting in the cages every day and be able to "slow down" every pitch like Manny Ramirez and Albert Pujols do so incredibly well.

There is no greater feeling on earth than hitting a ball over a fence and running around the bases at your own speed. And I would be just like Scott Rolen, who has the fastest home run trot in the game -- no-nonsense, get back to the dugout and prepare for that next at-bat. I would be even-keel like a Cal Ripken and a Tony Gwynn and take satisfaction from reaching my potential every day and living in that zone and being completely in every inning.

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by Mark Newman