In an era when pitchers were expected to pitch a complete game, I believe they paced themselves so that they would still have some gas left in the tank for the 8th and 9th innings.
Because today's pitchers only need to go 5 innings, the mindset is to throw as hard as you can until the bullpen takes over. Is it possible that by throwing at their maximum ability, pitchers are putting too much strain on their arms? Pitching is very difficult under any circumstance and causes undo stress on the arm muscles. Maybe there is damage being done by throwing too hard.
Just a guess as I don't understand all the dynamics of what actually happens to a pitcher's arm.
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