Our esteemed co-General, the prolific and astoundingly precocious Kevin Orris is helping out with Hurricane relief, and asked me to post his recent interview with Jamie Moyer. Moyer is a philanthropist and you can read about  his work. The interview will also be featured on www.mlbfrontoffice.com and www.majorleaguereport.com.

Q. You made your major league debut in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs, have had a lot of heartache during your career and were released from three organizations. How have you survived in the big leagues?

A. When things come easy, I think we tend to think as athletes that this is easy. I was born and raised to work hard. I don’t mind doing things the hard way. Getting into pro ball with the Cubs and learning the right way to do things really taught me to stay with it, work hard and good things will happen. Early on, I wasn’t sure if those good things were going to happen. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about the game. Each and every day you have to go out and prove yourself.

Q. When do you feel 45?

A. On occasion. Not daily, but on occasion I do feel like I’m 45. Some days after I pitch. But, for the most part, I feel pretty good.

Q. How long do you think you can pitch and what are the signs that you would say to yourself that the hitters are catching up to me?

A. Good question. I’m taking it a year at a time at this point. I really pay close attention to how I feel and how my body feels. The other thing is, the hitters will tell me. The will tell me on a consistent basis. I can tell you right now, that I have a couple of outings a year where I am just not good. But, if you look at any starting pitcher during the course of the season when you’re getting 30 or more starts, we’re all in that same boat. It’s just how bad are you? The way I look at it is if you take those 3-5 bad starts away and remove the 3-5 good starts away, the bulk of your season is in the remainder of 25 or so starts. If you pitch well in those games, you have a chance to make a big contribution to your ballclub.

Q. Do we baby pitchers today?

A. I think we do. It’s all about training and it’s all about a mindset. Your body will respond to what it is trained to do. Today, pitchers are trained to throw 95-110 pitches and they move on. Some of it is due to the money that is paid, especially to the young guys that are being drafted. It is a big investment and organizations want to protect that investment.

Q: What strategy do you have when an umpire is not giving you the outside or inside strike?

A: You’ve still got to pitch. I don’t think there’s really a strategy to umpires. They have their strike zone and you have your repertoire. You’re pitching to the hitter. You’re not really pitching to the umpire. I don’t want to say the umpire doesn’t come into play. They do at times. But if you really watch the game, a lot of pitching is deception. I don’t care how hard you throw or how soft you throw. It’s a matter of catching the hitter - and this is hard to describe - but it’s a matter of catching a hitter deep in his swing where he’s not getting the barrel to the zone, or forcing contact in front of the zone beyond where he’s had his maximum power. To me that’s the cat-and-mouse game that everybody plays.

Q: You’ve played baseball for a very long time. How have batters changed during that time and what have you done to adjust to them?

A: I don’t know if they’ve really changed. You’ve got your power hitters. You’ve got your guys that put the ball in play. You’ve got the guys that put the ball on the ground and run. I don’t think hitters have changed. I think the game has changed. I can’t prove some of this, but they say the balls are harder. They say the bats are harder. Obviously, the strike zone has changed with the institution of QuesTec [electronic monitoring]. I just think the game has evolved into more of a corporate game. It’s always been a business, but the new ballparks all have sky boxes. They’re after the corporate dollar. It’s become more of a corporate game. It’s become an expensive game for the fans. But I don’t think I have an answer to how hitters have changed because they really haven’t. The game has changed more so than the hitters. Hitters are hitters. They all hold a bat and they all go up there looking to do damage.

A. Throughout my career, I have visited patients in hospitals. One young boy changed my life in 1993. His name is Gregory Chaya. At age 2, Gregory was battling leukemia and was waiting for a bone marrow transplant at Johns Hopkins. At that same time, I was trying to resurrect my baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles. We formed a bond and a friendship that lasts to this day as Gregory is a healthy, cancer survivor. Gregory’s spirit and positive attitude during a time of adversity inspired me and Karen to commit ourselves to help children in distress. Every kid deserves a chance at a good life and the opportunity to smile, and The Moyer Foundation helps make this happen.

Q. What is Camp Erin?