GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — There is a bridge that runs from Tommy John and Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974, all the way to Shohei Ohtani, Justin Verlander and Bryce Harper. A thread that connects an increasing number of baseball's biggest stars.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — There is a bridge that runs from Tommy John and Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974, all the way to Shohei Ohtani, Justin Verlander and Bryce Harper. A thread that connects an increasing number of baseball's biggest stars. Mostly on the mound, but at the plate, too.Almost 50 years ago, on Sept. 25, 1974, Jobe reconstructed a torn ulnar collateral ligament in John's left arm.
The roots of the surgery can be found in Jobe's work at Rancho Los Amigos, a Southern California hospital, where doctors used tendon transfers to help people with polio. The actual surgery largely remains the same as the one Jobe performed in 1974. But doctors have made improvements in terms of protecting the ulnar nerve, along with avoiding excessive scarring, putting the ligament in the right place and creating the proper tension.
Then, of course, there's Ohtani, who received a record-breaking $700 million contract from the Los Angeles Dodgers within months of his second major elbow operation. The arm that had the surgery is in a cast at an approximately 90-degree angle for about 10 days following the operation. After it comes off and the stitches are removed, it takes months to recover the full range of motion. That's all before the player starts throwing again on flat ground.“I remember the very first day of throwing,” said Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin, who had surgery on Sept. 1. “It was like 30 throws, nice and easy, and just felt super foreign, like I’d never thrown before.
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