Here's an excerpt:
One recent morning two patients of Dr. James R. Andrews sat side by side in a rehab center in Birmingham. Both were shirtless. Both had fresh surgical holes in their right shoulders. And both were attentive as physical therapists hovered, advising them on how to put on a T-shirt a day after an operation (injured arm first).
On the left was Angel Guzman, whom the Cubs pay $825,000 to blow his 95-mph fastball by National League hitters. Three years ago Andrews also did Guzman's Tommy John surgery. The patient on the right was Tommy Ventura. Tommy is 17 years old, a righthander who this week is finishing his junior year at Archbishop Spalding High in Severn, Md.
...Andrews estimates that 60% of the athletes he operates on these days are high school athletes or younger. Sixty percent. "I don't think epidemic is too strong a word," the surgeon says. "We're seeing kids hurt before they even have a chance to become athletes."
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