There are not many things LSU coach Yvette Girouard has not seen or heard of in her 31 years of coaching, and until summer of 2005, one of those obscure experiences was a female undergoing the dreaded “Tommy John” surgery.
The procedure, which replaces a torn ligament in the elbow with a ligament from another part of the body, is common among major league baseball pitchers. The first major leaguer to undergo the operation was Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John in 1974.
In June 2005, LSU senior catcher and first baseman Kristen Hobbs became the only female Girouard has known to have the procedure, jokingly called the “Tammy Jane” surgery in Hobbs’ case.
The Palm Beach, Fla., native subsequently sat out most of her junior season before returning full-time to the Tigers’ lineup this season.
Hobbs’ injury was compounded over time. She said she remembered hitting in a batting cage her sophomore season and, tossing her bat down out of frustration, having a feeling like someone “stabbed” her in the back of the arm.
Hobbs had an MRI following a three-game series at Mississippi State University in March 2005, and the results showed she would need surgery to repair the elbow injury.
“My boyfriend [LSU sophomore pitcher Nolan Cain] had the surgery four months before I did,” Hobbs said. “I knew about the surgery, and I almost knew for sure it was eight months to a year recovery. So here I am trying to calculate like, ‘Oh crap, it’s June. That’s my whole junior season that I’d sit out.'”
Hobbs was able to toss a tennis ball about four and a half months after the operation and did not being full throwing drills until around Christmas 2005.
“I had to teach myself a new arm slot and make sure I wasn’t throwing with my elbow off to the side,” she said. “I had to kind of teach myself all over again to throw correctly.”
Girouard said the surgery was something that had to be done if Hobbs was to complete her LSU career.
“I know she was devastated but she played hurt for two years, and it was just time to fix it,” Girouard said. “Really, we didn’t know what was going to happen this year. There was a huge possibility that she wasn’t going to play much.”
Hobbs said she was surprisingly relieved and not depressed following her operation.
“I was a very positive person,” she said. “If I was going to throw a pity party, it was going to be at my house in my room.”
So far this season, Hobbs has taken full opportunity of her new and improved elbow.
After hitting two home runs in her first three seasons as a Tiger, Hobbs is tied for the team lead with five home runs this season.
She has also made the adjustment of moving from catcher to first base because of several injuries LSU’s infield has suffered this season.
Three Tiger infielders have had finger injuries through the first two months of the season, shifting Hobbs to first base.
“We kind of threw her over there [at first base] and really worked with her, and she’s done a great job,” Girouard said. “Her bat’s come around for us. We kind of miss her a little bit behind the plate, but when you got Killian Roessner you don’t miss too much of a beat.”
Roessner played in all 69 of LSU’s games this past season and has started 26 of the Tigers’ 33 games this season.
Hobbs admitted that while she was injured, she worried about working herself back into the team’s game plan.
“Killian caught every game [in 2006], so how can you not get comfortable with that,” Hobbs said. “That was the hardest thing. I didn’t want my teammates to forget about me.”
Her teammates and her coach had certainly not forgotten about Hobbs. Before the season began, she was named one of the team’s three captains, along with Roessner and junior second baseman Shannon Stein.
“She always puts the team, the coaches and everybody else before her,” Girouard said. “Usually good things happen to good people. This is one of those good things happening to a good person.”
With the Tigers in the thick of the Southeastern Conference title race, Hobbs said no matter what happens to her elbow this spring, fans can expect to see her on the field and in the dugout every step of the way.
“Even if I did [get hurt], I’m gutting it out until I graduate [in May],” she said. “I’m leaving it all on the field. If my arm falls off, it falls off, but I’m not quitting until it does.”
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]