A Cut Above

摘要

Let's say you're a big-league pitcher, blessed with a good but not great arm. You've played several seasons in the majors, yet you've never managed to hold down a steady place in a starting rotation, mainly because you can't get quite enough velocity on the ball. You work with different pitching coaches and sports psychologists. You try new exercise and diet regimens. Ultimately, you decide that your innate talents aren't going to take you to the all-star level you've always dreamed of. You need a little help. So you find a surgeon willing to drill a series of small holes in the humerus and ulna bones at your elbow, slice open your wrist and remove a tendon from it, and then weave the tendon in a figure eight loop through the holes. After a year or so of rehab, you're throwing a 97-mph fastball for the first time in your life, and your career is transformed.