KISS IT GOODBYE: A gynecologist?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I'm sure I wasn't the only one surprised to learn that in the 1950's, the Pirates' team physician was a gynecologist. What was especially surprising was that the team (and Frank Thomas) let the gynecologist do surgery on Thomas' hand.

What's up with that? The book doesn't really explain how such a situation came about. It sounds like cronyism at its worst. "Hey, my friend Bob is some kind of a doctor! He can be the team physician! What? He's a gynecologist? Yeah, that should be okay."

There's got to be more to this story.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Well, in their defense, and there's not a lot here, specialization wasn't so specialized in the fifties.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

When I was a kid, there was a minor league hockey franchise called the Long Island Ducks who played at the Commack Arena (may it rest in peace). For a very short time my father's partner, a radiologist, was the Ducks' team physician. He felt that many of these guys were too injured to play. Management decided to get a different team physician instead.

So yeah, I can imagine a team going with the most malleable doctor available, even if he was far from being the most qualified.