Tommy John: "BEST PITCHERS DON'T THROW IN NOV., DEC., & JAN."--NY Times

Patients for Tommy John surgery "have become younger and younger, creating greater alarm among doctors, coaches and parents.

• John said he believed his elbow problem stemmed from an unusual number of cortisone shots over the years. He estimated that he had had 40 to 50 injections in his elbow from 1963 to 1974. More recently, he said, the injury may be occurring because of the amount of pitching youngsters do.

• "Kids 10, 11, 12, 13 become one-sport kids," said John, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C. "When I was young, you played whatever sport was in season. But now kids are pitching year-round. The best pitchers in the majors don't throw in November, December and January. Here in Charlotte kids are still playing baseball and it's almost Thanksgiving."

Youngsters' elbows are not strong enough to withstand the stress all that pitching produces, John said. Then there are the showcases where high school pitchers perform in pursuit of college scholarships.

"They have radar guns and kids throw as hard as they can for however many pitches they have,"he said.

• Dr. Jobe agreed with John's assessment.

"We see it happening in younger pitchers whose bones aren'’t as hard," he said. "We see a lot of it in youth baseball. That doesn'’t take nearly as much stress to do damage as for a mature pitcher. In a mature pitcher, chances are he'’s been having a little bit of a problem for a long time until one or two pitches make it give way."

• Jobe said he judged pitchers' circumstances by three words:— mechanics, age and volume, or the amount of pitching one does. "The younger you are," he said, "the less stress it takes.""

From NY Times article by Murray Chass, 11/12/06

• (100 times a day you hear nobody has enough pitching. You also hear teams that don't send pitchers for globalized contests LIKE THE OLYMPICS AND WBC are selfish, stupid, and greedy. OF COURSE, IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND. THERE'S A REASON THERE ISN'T ENOUGH PITCHING. IT'S NOT LIKE WE RAN OUT OF PEOPLE).sm

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