To Pee, or Not to Pee. That's a Question?

As a disgruntled Cubs fan, I'm a bit miffed at the team these days. You might say I'm pissed. But is it better to be pissed off, or pissed on, and is that a do-it-yourself option? In Major League baseball it can be.

Our ace pitcher- Edwin Cabrera- left the game in the fourth inning after he developed a blister on his pitching hand. This happens to a lot of pitchers and has haunted him all his career. You throw a baseball umpteen thousands of times and it could certainly happen to you. Two great Cubs pitchers (Rick "Big Daddy" Rueschel and Kerry Wood) both were prone to developing blisters. When you make your living with your hand, this can be devasting. 

What to do about it? Salves and lotions are an option, but you really want to toughen up those hands. One of the great lefthanders of all-time, Steve "Lefty" Carlton, had a regimen where he would thrust his open-palmed hands into a bucket of uncooked rice. If I recall correctly, he dabbled in the martial arts, and this was an ancient Chinese secret used in many dojos. It must have worked because he's in The Hall of Fame. If anybody else in baseball picked up that technique, I haven't heard.

What I have heard of now, is the fairly common practice of players peeing on their hands, to toughen them up. I am not kidding. Some big names too, and position players as well as pitchers. I don't know why but most of the guys mentioned as taking part in this practice, were former Chicago Cubs. Maybe it's the trough urinals still in some of the men's rooms at Wrigley field. Between innings did the players rush in and douse their hands in the urinals? I don't think so, but who knows. The troughs, BTW, are a pretty good idea. Very efficient. They get crowded, but you just kinda wriggle in, whip it out and do your business- just number 1, mind you. The sinks were a smaller, but similar set-up where water was constantly running and you make an effort to wash your hands and then go off to dry at the paper towel station. It's very much a production line. Sure, it's a bit weird. You're peeing across from a dozen other guys and trying not to make eye contact while also still watching your aim. You just get in, get out and keep the line moving. For some reason, when White Sox fans come up from the southside, they call it "the smorgasbord". Not sure what's up with that. 

This peeing on the hands has been going on for decades. We're talking about the players now, not the fans. I think. Does it work? Eh- who really knows? Usually these things *work* if the person believes that they work. Like RFK Jr with his asinine ideas and Maga with ivermectin and all things Trump. I would imagine that if blisters are a problem, you'll try anything to ply your trade. Carlton's rice dousing makes more sense to me. It's cleaner too, as long as the rice doesn't later become dinner.