I was trying to picture the situation in which Dr. Frank Jobe had that “Eureka!” moment 35-plus years ago that resulted in the procedure that became known as Tommy John surgery. In my mind’s eye, it was like a movie we’ve all seen at some point.
In my script he’s sitting at the desk in his office doodling on a prescription pad when his retractable ballpoint pen runs out of ink. He reaches for another one that writes but won’t retract anymore; the tiny spring inside has sprung. He unscrews both pens, removes the spring from the dry pen and uses it to replace the no longer functioning spring from the pen that still has ink in it.
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He resumes his doodle for a moment, then stops and stares at the pen before leaping to his feet and yelling for his nurse, a la Don Ameche as Alexander Graham Bell, “Miss Watson (or whomever), come here, I need you!” His nurse enters the office and is embraced by Dr. Jobe, who tells her excitedly, “Get Tommy John on the phone, stat!”
The injured Dodgers lefty arrives, wincing in pain every time he has to use his left arm for anything, and sits down in the chair in front of the desk — facing the camera, of course. Jobe reaches into the front pocket of his white lab coat (the kind doctors always wear in the movies) and produces a retractable ballpoint pen.
He speaks. “Call me crazy, Tommy,” he tells the startled southpaw, “but I think I’ve found a way to get you back on the mound.”
Something like that.
The rest is history. John rehabs for 18 months, comes back in 1976 and pitches until 1989 when he’s 46. He wins another 164 games to finish his career at 288-231, right on the cusp of the magic 300. In the movie version, he goes right into the Hall of Fame, thanks to artistic license. (Don’t scoff; thanks to the final scene in the film “A League of Their Own,” many fans became convinced the Hall had inducted women players. Not so.)
Stephen Strasburg will join a long list of major leaguers — pitchers, predominantly — who have undergone the TJ procedure. The full recovery rate — as of the 2009 season — fell between 85 and 92 percent. There are no guarantees, and the positive attitude of the subject toward the rehabilitation process counts for a great deal.
A lot of writers, coast-to-coast, have described Strasburg’s situation as “worst case scenario.” That’s just not so. A true worst case scenario would have included doctors discovered something far worse than a torn ulnar collateral ligament, something that would have been more than just career-threatening. That’s not the case.
In a short time Stephen Strasburg has shown himself to be extremely focused on the task at hand. Rehabbing from this procedure is a challenge he’ll deal with.
Phil Wood is a contributor to Nats Xtra on MASN. Contact him at [email protected].
