Actually, what to do is obvious, but youth baseball coaches and parents are too concerned about Lil' Johnny's big pay day or about winning the BIG GAME no one will remember in 10 years, to give a crap about his weak little arm. When your 13-year-old has five workable pitches and throws more innings a week than C.C. Sabathia, that's a problem.

Andrews explains to The New York Times Magazine that he's been fighting this issue for years, but no one seems to care. There are dozens of little leagues and interscholastic leagues and other amateur programs and none of them can agree on pitch or innings limits that make any kind of sense. And without those limits, coaches will keep sending their pitchers out there until their arms fall off. That's why Andrews says there's an "epidemic" of torn ligaments and busted shoulders.

Reading about what some of these kids go through boggles the mind. One kid pitches 10 months a year for four different teams. Caleb Duhay (pictured), a 12-year-old in last year's Little League World Series, pitched four games in 10 days and threw 288 pitches—all of them high-pressure, tournament throws. In a 10 day-span last month, Josh Beckett threw 201 and C.C. Sabathia threw 214, and they only had two starts each. Those guys are also highly paid major leaguers.

Another kid, Alden Manning, pitched a complete game with a sore forearm and then missed an entire year with Tommy John surgery. His dad and his coach thought they were looking out for him, but since they aren't orthopedic surgeons they apparently had no clue what they were doing to him. Kids throw more pitches, harder and in more pressure-packed situations then ever before, and the only people benefiting are doctors with knives.

But I've got a radical solution. Are you ready for it? Listen up: When a kid's arm is sore ... don't let him pitch. If he's already in the game and he gets tired ... take him out. I know this is a complicated procedure—even a lot of major and minor league managers don't seem to grasp it, but letting an injured pitcher pitch won't suddenly make him not injured. Call me crazy, but it just might work.

Arms-Control Breakdown [NY Times]

P.S. Interesting bit of trivia from the article—James Andrews was the 1963 SEC Champion in the pole vault. That must explain his fascination with things that bend.

Former White Sox pitcher Jack McDowell is a blogging now and he has a cautionary tale for Mark Buehrle and anyone else who thinks they are indestructible. James Andrews can destroy you. Here's Jack's version of how his baseball career ended at the tender age of 31:

My pain was finally diagnosed as a pinching of what is called plica between the bones of my outer elbow. Plica is basically the sheath of fibrous material that holds your joints together while you are developing as a child. This is not an injury they had ever heard of and it was basically a fluke. But that wasn't the fluke that ended my career.

[...]

The other option was for Dr. James Andrews to surgically remove the plica that was effected. This option was described as one of the most basic and non-evasive surgeries a pitcher could have. They'd just go in and out, not mess with ligaments etc. When the outside skin was healed, the inside skin would be healed and I'd be back in 4 or 5 weeks.

Well to make a super long story significantly shorter, Dr. Andrews placed the scope in an area behind my elbow that severed and killed the nerve to the anconeus muscle of my elbow. I was 31 years old. The end. I tried to pitch without that muscle but the instability of my elbow would not allow me to stay out there consistently.

Wait, did Jack McDowell just say that James Andrews—inventor of the Tommy John surgery, sculptor of torn labrums, master of the arthroscope—accidentally destroyed his elbow during an otherwise routine procedure?

That's another complete book in itself. I'll get into that at another time. A lawsuit was pursued and never taken to court because nobody would testify against him...because he owns Health South, and they own everyone. Crazy shit.

Okayyyyy. Are you sure it didn't have anything to do with getting knocked the eff out in that bar fight with Eddie Vedder, because it would probably be much easier to sue him.

Mark Buehrle, the Hall Of Fame and the end of my career [Chicago Now]

The St. Paul Pioneer-Press is saying that Birmingham's own James Andrews will slice and dice Favre's bicep this week, leading to a six-to-eight week rehab and "if all goes well" ... hello, Minnesota!

Favre missed a scheduled appointment with Andrews last week.

Why? Because he's too busy trying to orchestrate another NFL comeback without going through any normal channels, attending a single pre-season practice, or giving one honest answer to anyone, especially Rachel Nichols. Enjoy, Viking fans!

Brett Favre scheduled to meet with orthopedist about surgery, opening path to Minnesota Vikings [St. Paul Pioneer-Press]

If you could assemble a superstar, Frankenstein-style, from Andrews's patients, it would have repaired knees from quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb; a hip from dual-sports sensation Bo Jackson; shoulders from Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley; and elbows from the New York Yankees' Andy Pettitte and the Chicago Cubs' Kerry Wood. "I've always liked fixing people," Andrews says. "I want to get these athletes back to doing what they did before."

Andrews is 66, owns a private jet and his own minor league baseball team, brings in $60 million in revenue every year, was once an SEC champion pole-vaulter at LSU, and greets every athlete, no matter how famous or talented, by saying, "Hey, big man." Some great paragraphs from an article you absolutely have to read.

Because Andrews treats players on nearly every team and in nearly every sport, his reach is greater than that of any athlete, coach, or even commissioner. The totality of his work — redirecting careers, changing the fortunes of teams, even cities — makes a compelling case that he's one of the most influential figures in all of sports.

How much money has Andrews made for players by extending their careers?

Only a fraction of his patients have been identified in published reports. In an analysis of 40 baseball players who are known patients and whose salaries could be obtained, Andrews's career-extending work has led them to garner almost $1.3 billion in guaranteed money. Ten NFL quarterbacks whom Andrews treated went on to secure more than $333 million in contracts.

"Doc saved my career," says Brees, one of those QBs. "What he was able to do with my shoulder was truly amazing."

Read the article. Even though it's long and Fast Company has broken it up into 9 pages without a view all pages tab. Bill the time to "legal research regarding advanced procedures." Thank me later.

The most valuable player in sports: James Andrews [Fast Company]
Meet James Andrews [My Hogtown]

Renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews was expected to check the progress of Bagwell's right shoulder's mobility in Birmingham, Ala.

"Dr. Andrews suffered a heart attack over the weekend, so we don't know where his situation stands," [Astros general manager Tim] Purpura said.

Bagwell, who had surgery in June and returned in September, continues to work out and undergo extensive physical therapy in Houston in hopes of playing this year.

"I don't know what's going on," Bagwell said of the visit with Andrews.

Dr. James Andrews, of course, is the guy who mastered Dr. Frank Jobe's Tommy John surgery and is the foremost shoulder and knee guy; he's the reason John Smoltz, Kerry Wood, you name it, are still pitching today. Surely his heart attack is more worthy than a notebook tidbit in an offseason Houston Chronicle story. Come to think of it ... that story is the only place we've seen any mention of this. We hope Purpura just has his facts wrong, because a heart attack for one of the most influential doctors in sports would deserve, we think, a little more than, "Hey, what about my shoulder surgery?"

Bagwell Update [Houston Chronicle] (third item)

(Update: Sources confirm that Dr. Andrews did have a heart attack and is currently in intensive care. He is stable, however, and recovering. We wish him well.)