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'I can't do it again' Saunders retires after second bad break
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Tony Saunders lowered his head and wept. There was no easy way for him to say he was finished, that he would not attempt another comeback after breaking his pitching arm in a game for the second time in 15 months. Wiping tears away, he spoke from the heart. "It's just hard knowing you're done," he said Saturday. "You want to deny that it happened and (think) something else is wrong. But then, you know exactly what it is. I knew laying on that field that was it." The 26-year-old left-hander's bid to continue his career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays ended short of a return to the majors when he broke the bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow in his pitching arm in the same general area as he did in May 1999. Doctors who conducted tests on Saunders' arm during his recovery are not sure why the bone broke again. He made four minor league rehabilitation starts without a problem before dropping to the ground in pain during the third inning of his fifth outing Thursday night.
Saunders, who hasn't decided if he'll take a job to stay in baseball with the Devil Rays' organization, said another comeback attempt as a player was out of the question. He went 13-24 in three major league seasons with the Devil Rays and Florida Marlins. "I can't do it again," he said. "Not physically or mentally, but I don't know what's going to happen and I want my health. And this time by me just breaking it, and there not being any nerve damage, it could be a blessing because I still do have my health. ... I want to go out ahead." Saunders had hoped to return to the majors in September, and might have been one or two starts away. He complained of having a tired arm after two of his rehabilitation starts, but the discomfort was likened to the normal muscle soreness a pitcher would experience during spring training. "He had every test done to make sure the bone was healed, and the bone was healed," said Dr. Koco Eaton, the Devil Rays' orthopedic physician. "He wouldn't have been able to pitch as much as he had if the bone wasn't healed. How it happened again, I don't know. I can't even venture a guess." Three other major league pitchers -- San Francisco's Dave Dravecky, Cincinnati's Tom Browning and Cleveland's John Smiley -- have broken their arms throwing a pitch since 1989. None recovered to pitch effectively again. Saunders originally suffered what was described as a spiral break of the left humerus on May 26, 1999 against the Texas Rangers. The second break occurred just above the other on the 33rd pitch of a scheduled four-inning appearance for the Devil Rays' Class A St. Petersburg affiliate, and left Saunders sprawled on the mound in pain. "When it first happened it hurt the same," the pitcher said. "But then after awhile the pain started wearing off. I guess because I didn't do nothing to the nerves this time, it makes it a lot easier." The Devil Rays attributed Saunders' speedy recovery from the first injury to his age and competitive nature. He arrived at spring training, determined to pitch in games again by June, even though doctors initially told him he probably wouldn't be able to pick up a ball until then. Right up until the end, he said, he didn't have any fear of re-injuring himself. "It was something I didn't want to think about because it wouldn't have let me be able to do what I needed to get myself back. I told myself the whole way, if it's going to happen, I want to do it going after it and not being passive," Saunders said. "It just didn't work out."
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