Days of Sore Arms Are Gone; Now It’s a Labrum Problem

Orel Hershiser’s surgery seemed to required reconstruction of the anterior capsule, reposing in the area of the glenoid labrum.

“I know all about labrum,” Tom Lasorda, scholarly manager of the Dodgers, explained. “When I was living in Norristown, a judge gave someone in our neighborhood 10 years of hard labrum.”

With Jay Howell, the problem seemed to be a partial tear in the medial meniscus in the left knee.

And Eric Davis, the Cincinnati outfielder currently inoperative? He is suffering a sprain of the medial collateral, a disorder not foreign to Lasorda, who will tell you that collateral is what you put up when you borrow money.

Tom’s colleague, Don Zimmer, manager of the Chicago Cubs, smiles thinly, reflecting on today’s medical reports.

“It’s a new world, isn’t it?” Don says. “I am glad to have lived during a time when guys had sore arms and bum knees.”

“You mean no one got a medial menisectomy?” he is asked.

“We walked around with knots on our knees,” he says. “And pitchers rested their arms during the winter. Maybe conditions are better today, but when I see Nolan Ryan throw a one-hitter and strike out 16 at the age of 43, I have yet to be convinced that pitching regularly can break down arms. Three days’ rest, four days’ rest, eight days’ rest--I see it mainly as luck.”

If Zimmer is wrong, why would Jeff Hamilton, a strong young stud for the Dodgers, go out of business throwing only from third to first?

Hamilton is recovering from a damaged rotator cuff.

So is Pat Perry, a relief pitcher the Dodgers pick up this year. Perry pitches only 35.2 innings last year for the Cubs.

From Pittsburgh, the Dodgers also capture pitcher Jim Gott, and what they get in Gott is a have-not, an entertainer with a bad elbow.

Their relief catcher, Rick Dempsey, is out with a bad back, and medical science has worked hard but hasn’t yet diagnosed fully the case of Kirk Gibson.

In his time, trouble has visited the hamstring, the knee, the calf, the ankle and the wrist of Kirk.

This is in addition to problems with the rib cage and the stomach muscles.

No abnormality has been sighted in the area of the glenoid labrum, but Gibson has yet to play this year, compounding Dodger frustration in the area of trades.

Great hosannas are heard when they unload Pedro Guerrero, who, to management, was a pain in the anterior capsule.

They give him to the Cardinals for John Tudor, a pain in the rectus abdominis.

Well, Guerrero hits up a storm in St. Louis and Tudor goes bad in Los Angeles, so he is given back to St. Louis.

At the last inspection, he wins his first four starts this year, ironically at the time Hershiser is hurt, Howell is hurt, Gott is hurt and Perry is hurt.

Stuck for a fifth starting pitcher, the Dodgers would go with a rotation of four, except it is felt that the arm of Fernando Valenzuela right now might not respond to such a schedule.

And what happened to Steve Sax? The Dodgers allowed him to drift to the Yankees, for whom he hit .315 last year.

And Mariano Duncan, who shows no promise that is visible in Los Angeles, is shifted to Cincinnati, where he is off to the hottest start of his existence.

Incredible things have been happening to the Dodgers; yet, for all their crises, they are playing .550, for which apologies aren’t required.

“At the end of a season,” Lasorda is asked, “does anyone pay attention to injuries that occurred?”

“Not in the least,” he answers. “There are no asterisks that explain you had seven guys hurt at one time. You are told everyone has injuries. And no one wants to hear you complain. It’s like I always have said--80% of the people don’t care about your troubles. And the other 20% are glad you got ‘em.”

Right now, Lasorda, hobbling about on a bad knee, could use a medial menisectomy, which isn’t related to a vasectomy, but he resists surgery, opting, instead, for a program of physical therapy.

“They’ve got me swimming almost every day,” Tom says. “Exercising in the water is supposed to be good for the knee.”

In his last days in football, Joe Namath was advised to swim to ease chronic knee problems. Joe never returned to his old form as a quarterback, but he was always clean.

Lasorda uses the pool of the Police Academy, which is close to Dodger Stadium. Asked if he is a good security risk, he answers:

“I told them I have never stolen anything except signs.”

How the Dodgers will compensate for the loss of Hershiser isn’t easy to figure, but it is hoped that, after 3 1/2 hours of surgery, the anterior capsule will function as it used to and not start trouble with the pectoralis major.

Up until now, Hershiser never had anything worse than an appendectomy, if you don’t want to count the times he had his teeth cleaned.