What's happening around baseball today doesn't make much sense. Modern medicine has evolved to the point where replacing an elbow ligament with a tendon is considered routine, and yet for all of the sport's knowledge more players than ever get hurt. Every year, teams fork over $500 million to players on the disabled list. It is the sport's epidemic.

View photos

Tucked away in the background, working miracles that defy explanation, is the single greatest asset in baseball that next to nobody recognizes. Herm Schneider is 60. For the last 34 years, he has been the athletic trainer for the Chicago White Sox. And over that time, they have put together a run of health that when compared to their peers is flabbergasting and can be explained by one of two things.

Either the White Sox happen to have come upon an inconceivably healthy group of players for more than a decade, or Schneider leads a training staff more than twice as good as the rest of the league's.

That's not an exaggeration. According to data compiled by the team, from 2002-2012, White Sox players spent a total of 4,026 days on the disabled list. The average across baseball was 9,496. The next-closest team in the American League over that time span was Minnesota, with 7,805 days. The Texas Rangers had 12,803, more than three times as many as the White Sox.

"I don't know exactly how he does it," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said, the perfect mirror for Schneider himself: "I'm not sure exactly why we've had success."

Neither wants to be too effusive considering the last three weeks. Even the King of Health isn't immune to the vagaries of the sport and, in particular, the arm. First the Sox lost starter Gavin Floyd to Tommy John surgery. Then ace Chris Sale skipped a start because of shoulder tendinitis. Come Friday, left-hander John Danks will throw a big-league pitch for the first time since shoulder surgery in August.

[Related: White Sox fall to Clay Buchholz and the Red Sox]

"Injuries are not an act of God in baseball," Schneider said. "They're basically self-inflicted. The act of throwing a baseball is not a normal thing to do and not a thing the shoulder and elbow were meant to do. So you have to prepare for that by making deposits into your career. A lot of work. A lot of sweat labor that overprepares you for the day you have to pitch. Because when a guy is pitching, he's making withdrawals on his career.

"Make those deposits, or otherwise, you go bankrupt."

The White Sox's account teems with money. Schneider moved from the Netherlands to the United States at 5, joined the profession as a pup, arrived in Chicago in 1979 following a stint with the New York Yankees and today is the longest-tenured head trainer in the game. The Pittsburgh Pirates' trainer, Todd Tomczyk, was born just two years before Schneider joined the Sox.

Time, in Schneider's case, equals wisdom. The White Sox own a deep respect for Schneider simply because they believe he and the rest of the training and strength-and-conditioning staff will get them healthy. There is enough precedent certainly.

"If you want to play and you can play, he will get you out there," White Sox reliever Matt Thornton said. "Like, if you're hurt hurt, he's going to take care of you, you're going to go on the DL, you're going to miss time. But if you're just sore and beat up and all that, he's not going to baby you or coddle you. You're going to get soreness. Your arm is going to be sore. Your body is going to be sore. Welcome to being an athlete."

Story continues