Tommy John Surgery

I got reading a little about Tommy John Surgery today, and I was quite surprised at some of the NON-PITCHER Major Leaguer's that have actually had the surgery - Check out this list (according to Wikipedia):

-Rocco Baldelli (outfielder)
-José Canseco (outfielder; injured while pitching)
-Shin-Soo Choo (outfielder)
-Rusty Greer (outfielder)
-Luis Gonzalez (outfielder)
-Matt Holliday (outfielder)
-César Izturis (infielder)
-Kelly Johnson (infielder)
-Carlos Quentin (outfielder)
-Xavier Nady (outfielder)

And how about guys like Jose Rijo and Matt Riley who each had the surgery three times? Where in the hell were they getting all these ligaments from?

Also surprising was the list of NFL players who have had the surgery. This list is the complete list - very small. It just goes to show that the throwing motions of an MLB pitcher and an NFL quarterback are obviously quite a bit different:

-Jake Delhomme
-Craig Erickson
-Chris Hunter
-Sebastian Janikowski (did not affect his career, as he is a placekicker)
-Rob Johnson
-Terrell Owens
-Deion Sanders

T.O. and Janikowski....a wideout and a damn KICKER?! Are you kidding me? Those are both a bit of a surprise.

And just one final note that I found a bit surprising....check out this note about the 'Frequency' of the surgery:

Today, the surgery is becoming more common in children 10-18 years old due to increased season length, the rise of travel teams (and tournament play), and the more frequent use of breaking pitches by young pitchers.

Nothing like wrecking your elbow when you are 10 years old. I pitched quite a bit when I was young, but I luckily didn't need any reconstructive elbow surgery at that age.

Tommy John Surgery is a great example of how medicine has really advanced over the past few years. Tommy John was the first person to have Tommy John Surgery (obviously, the procedure was named after him). This was in 1974. At that time, they gave him a 1 in 100 chance of recovery. He did end up making a recovery and pitched again in the Major Leagues. The chances of recovery today? An estimated 85-90 percent (or 85-90 out of 100, of course). Three cheers for sports medicine.