A number of baseball historians and statisticians blame this on manager Billy Martin overworking McCatty and the other members of the 1981 staff.

In 2006, Rob Neyer estimated that McCatty threw 131 pitches per complete game in 1981, a heavy workload for a young pitcher even then.

[1] During a 1982 exhibition game against the San Diego Padres, McCatty stepped to the plate wielding a toy 15-inch bat but umpire Jim Quick would not allow him to hit.

McCatty did this on orders from Martin, who was furious that the designated hitter rule was not allowed in National League ballparks, to use the toy bat as a protest.

During the offseason, McCatty works with youngsters of all ages to teach pitching mechanics at Jason Thompson Baseball in Auburn Hills, Michigan.