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Imagine hearing the words that you only thought were said in nightmares. In every sport, there is a certain term that nobody wants to hear and in baseball those words are a name.
Tommy John.
Whether he likes it or not, Tommy John is one of the most hated men in all of baseball. At the same time, Tommy John has revived the career of over 400 major league baseball players alone.
Tommy John is both a he and a thing. Tommy John the man is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for six different teams over 25 years. So how did Tommy John become a thing?
During his 1974 season, John owned a 13-3 record when the soft throwing sinkerball pitcher felt a snap in his elbow, which turned out to be a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. On September 25, 1974 Tommy John took the mere 1-in-100 odds of success, and allowed Dr. Frank Jobe to change the baseball world forever. Being the first to ever have the procedure done, Tommy John would soon become one of the most well known names in baseball history.
The term “Tommy John Surgery” is a surgical repair of the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial part of the elbow. The repair of the ligament is done by taking a piece of another ligament out of somewhere in the patients body (usually the forearm or hamstring) and replace it in the spot of the UCL that is torn.
“The procedure has been refined with smaller incisions and less soft tissue damage around the elbow,” said Philadelphia Phillies head team physician, Steven Cohen. “Additional techniques have also allowed the procedure to more reliably get players back to full participation.
“The injury isn’t necessarily getting worse, but just recognized more and more.”
With many more players having the operation done, there has been an increase in the awareness of how to prevent and recognize the injury.
“Due to younger athletes participating in year-round baseball,” Cohen started, “and more pitchers focused on throwing harder, the frequency of the injury has increased in the younger age groups, not just professional and collegiate baseball players.”
The injury was originally seen primarily in professional and collegiate athletes because of the fact that they throw significantly harder than that of young people. As the game of baseball has evolved into a power dominant sport, more athletes at a young age are trying to improve their velocity both with their arm and their bat speed.
As more players have gotten the surgery, there have also been advancements in how to rehabilitate the arm after the surgery. It is actually common for athletes to come back stronger and with a higher velocity on their pitches than before the injury occurred.
The rehabilitation process for this injury can be grueling and demanding on any player who has to go through such an extensive and thorough routine. Former Major League Baseball catcher and first round pick, Ben Davis was one of the few position players who underwent the surgery to repair the elbow.
Davis talked about how his injury happened by saying, “The doctors didn’t find anything odd about a catcher getting Tommy John. If you think about it, we actually throw more than the pitchers. No, we’re not putting as much max-effort stress on the arm over the course of a ballgame but we’re still throwing it nonetheless.”
Contrary to popular belief, it is not one single pitch or throw that causes the ligament to tear. Due to flawed mechanics and an excessive amount of throwing, the UCL over time begins to tear by a small amount with every throw. As there are more throws made at a high level on a consistent basis, those small tears begin to add up. Depending on the player and the position that they play, there may be different signs or no signs at all of the injury.
For Davis, there was no severe pain or signs of the injury. When recalling the injury, Davis describes it as if it were yesterday.
“I was with the Mariners and we were in Minnesota playing the Twins,” he said. “Arthur Rhodes was on the mound and Tori Hunter was on first base. He took off and Arthur’s pitch was high and outside to a lefty and I just caught it and threw it as hard as I could (all technique out the window, so to speak) because he had a great jump. That’s when I felt a slight pop and burning sensation in my elbow.”
On the opposite end, pitchers are likely to suffer from arm discomfort or arm pain more consistently due to the high intensity throws that they make on a consistent basis. For former New York Yankees pitcher Shaun Parker, the injury caught up to him over time. He remembers there being consistent pulls and small stints on the disabled list because of UCL sprains. Trying to work through those pains late in his career, the tugs and pulls began to catch up to him. As those pulls and tugs continued on the arm, Parker said that he felt as if he was, “losing juice” on every pitch.
For each of these players, the rehab process was long and extensive consisting of workouts that enhanced the entire body. Davis used the buddy system for his rehab process. Former MLB Pitcher Randy Wolf went through the rehab process with Davis to try and get both motivated to work to get back from their injuries.
“We went five days a week and worked on everything, from our core strength to legs to our shoulders and obviously elbow,” said Davis, “I was good to go with regards to being 100% within a year and playing in games right at the year mark.”
On the other end, Parker stayed on the safe side when rehabbing his injury. Parker waited 11 months before returning to mound work due to the timing of his surgery.
“I did not try to rush the process. I was able to progress into my following off-season at close to full strength and get back to a more normal off-season plan,” Parker said. “I finally took the field in March of 2009, roughly 18 months after surgery.”
Cohen, Davis and Parker all did agree on one thing. Cohen discussed the mental side by saying, “The length of the rehabilitation hopefully provides the mental support to get an athlete back. However, the mental component of injury can be very difficult to deal with for an athlete.”
The mental ability to return to the field and return to throwing weighs on the minds of each of these athletes. While each felt 100% healthy physically, the mental edge was not the same as what it had been.
“During the rehab process, you spend so much time focusing on and assessing your physical status, the mental side of the game gets left by the wayside, whether consciously or unconsciously,” said Parker. “I was so self-absorbed in myself and how my arm and body felt that I ignored the mental preparation necessary to compete at a high level.”
As the mind wanders and thinks about the arm, the mental edge of pitching and playing is often the odd man out.
What many people don’t see is the positive side of what Tommy John surgery entails. This surgery has prolonged the careers of so many players and allowed players to continue playing the game they love for as long as they possibly can.
“All in all though, I’m glad I had it done, as it prolonged my career a few more years by allowing me to get back on the field injury free,” Davis concluded.
For what was thought of as a career ender, has turned into a career saver.