When I dropped from 15-pounders to 14-pounders a few years ago, it was a decision I had to make because my creaky 3-operation wrist had reached the point where it really couldn’t handle 15s anymore. When I had bone-graft reconstructive surgery in 1989 with the world’s best hand surgeon, Dr. Ronald Linscheid of the Mayo Clinic, he told me I’d probably never bowl competitively at a high level again. He underestimated his own skills and my will and pain tolerance, as 28 of my...