Thanks, Tommy John

Sure, I don't like the Los Angeles Dodgers. But I do like baseball.

Tommy John surgery.

After tearing the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his elbow he was told by Dr. Frank Jobe that his career was over, because his arm was dead.

Because Tommy John wouldn't accept such a bleak diagnosis and insisted Dr. Jobe find something to fix his ailing arm the sport of baseball had a breakthrough discovery.

After drilling holes in the humerus and ulna, the surgeon threads a tendon in a figure eight to replace the torn ulnar collateral ligament. A tendon working as a ligament works better than the ligament it replaced. Amazing stuff that may have never happened had Tommy John not been so stubborn.

Thank you, Tommy John.

Now is this like steroids? Because guys who have had this type of surgery lasted several years longer than they would have had they not had the successful surgery??? And we all know, to make Cooperstown, longevity and statistics are two components.

(from Sports Illustrated 6/18/2007...Michael Weinreb)

Kevin Marquez