Disability days in major league baseball

We have examined the injury experience in Major League Baseball as reflecte d by the disabled list, based on data presented by American Specialty Compa nies in their publications, to examine any changes in injury rates over the past 11 years. It is reasonable to expect that improvements in training an d conditioning, diagnostic methods, and surgical treatment over the last 11 years would have reduced injuries and resulted in fewer players on the dis abled list. Yet, such does not appear to be the case. There is no evidence that the number of injuries in Major League Baseball has declined over the last decade; on the contrary, it appears that both the number of players an d player days on the disabled list have increased. Team membership, injury location, and position do not appear to be related to the increase. Nor doe s it appear that the increase in injuries is a result of more sensitive dia gnostic tests allowing the diagnoses of previously unrecognized injuries. W hatever the reason, it is significant that publicly available data, when vi ewed over an Ii-year period, reveal a gradual and consistent increase in re ported injuries-suggesting a problem that deserves attention.