To fetch or not to fetch?

I have a large breed dog who turned one a few months back. I have recently introduced the flirt pole which he absolutely loves. To give some variation in outside play, I was thinking of teaching him fetch, either with a ball or frisbee. The thing that's holding me back though, are some horror stories of dog playing fetch and suffering from dysplasia at an older age, or injuring themselves whilst trying to catch the ball.

Now my dog is goofy and everything but graceful when running or jumping. I've thought of throwing the ball, keeping him by my side until I give a release command and then let him search for the ball to minimise hard impacts on his joints. But is it really that bad to have him chase a ball, or am I being paranoid? And is there a significant difference between ball and frisbee?