Could This Be The End?

Saturday marks what could be the end for sure fire first ballot Hall-of-Famer. The Atlanta Braves have placed Tom Glavine on the 60-day disabled list meaning that he will miss the remainder of the 2008 season. The 42 year old Glavine has suffered a torn flexor tendon in his left (throwing) arm.

Glavine, who will travel to Alabama to see world class elbow specialist Dr. James Andrews next week, will likely receive one of two prognosis. Either he will just need a minor operation to repair the tendon, which would allow him to pitch next season, or he will be forced to have Tommy John surgery (a ligament replacement) which would likely end his career.

You hate to see someone like Glavine possibly be forced to go out like this. An athlete of his caliber, who has accomplished so much in professional baseball, should be able to go out on his terms.

"By no means do I want to go through another year with what I'm going through now. But at the same time, I don't think I want my career to end this way, either. I think that lends me to think I want to pitch next year. I think it's easier to walk away if you can honestly tell yourself, you know what, I can't do it anymore. And I don't know that I can answer that question right now because my body hasn't allowed me to do it this year as much I wanted to."

Glavine, who is 2-4 with a 5.54 era in 13 games this season, has 305 career wins.

Here's to hoping that Tom has one more season left in that arm of his. He is one of the truly good guys in sports and deserves to be able to decide when he is done, not be forced into it.