For Now, Just Pitching Is Enough for Him : Baseball: Rancho Santiago’s J.J. Thobe started throwing again, less than a year after reconstructive shoulder surgery.

SANTA ANA —  J.J. Thobe didn’t accomplish anything outstanding as a pitcher for the Santa Ana Cardinals this summer.

He didn’t pitch a no-hitter or even a shutout for the Cardinals, a team of mostly college-age athletes who played a free-lance schedule.

His greatest feat was pitching three consecutive innings, hardly big news for most pitchers.

In Thobe’s case, however, it’s another impressive step as he continues his way back from shoulder surgery he underwent in May, 1990.

Toward the end of his sophomore season at Edison High School in 1987, he developed a consistent pain in his right (pitching) arm and shoulder. It was diagnosed as tendinitis, and Thobe spent that summer in rehabilitation.

The pain returned in his junior year, and he spent more time playing first base than pitching.

During the summer, he received the same diagnoses from a different doctor, so he continued his rehabilitation. To strengthen his shoulder and arm he would lift weights and do stretching exercises.

He was free of pain until midseason of his senior year, and by then, Thobe had had just about enough of baseball.

“I was in constant pain by then,” he said. “I was totally discouraged. My arm was just dust. It hurt to even play soft-toss. I figured I would just go to college and forget about baseball.”

Thobe’s decision to retire from the sport was confirmed in 1990, when he went to Arizona for a weekend visit with his older brother, Tom, who was a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, at the organization’s minor league spring training camp.

“I just saw him sitting there,” Thobe said. “He was charting pitches in about 100-degree heat and not getting a chance to pitch very much. All I was thinking was that I didn’t want to do that.”

But he started to miss baseball later that spring while watching his younger brother, Steve, a catcher for Edison High School.

Thobe also took in a few community college games and decided it was time to attempt to pitch again.

First, he had to find out what was wrong with his arm. Thobe met with Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon and was sent to the office of Dr. Frank Jobe, one of sports’ best-known physicians.

Thobe’s shoulder required reconstructive surgery on his rotator cuff if he wanted to play again, Jobe told him; otherwise, it was something he could live with.

“I didn’t want to look back later in my life and wonder what would have happened if I had the operation,” he said. “So on May 14 it happened.”

Thobe, 20, could have taken longer to return, but he didn’t want to sit out another season. He started to work out about three weeks after the operation with Alison Aubert, Rancho Santiago’s physical therapist.

The two met at the college for most of the summer. Thobe started with simple resistence exercises, then moved to weights, and finally started tossing a ball.

“He never missed therapy unless his car broke down,” Aubert said. “He made it back when a lot of people didn’t think he would. I put him through it all. He was always ahead of schedule and patient, which is important in a rehab like his. Too many times a guy will get to feeling good, push it, and ruin all the work that has been done.”

Thobe’s therapy also took him back to the beach.

“Surfing helped me a lot,” Thobe said. “It was hard to go to therapy when my brothers were going surfing, but when I finally got out (surfing), it helped loosen my shoulder and make it more flexible.”

Thobe threw a ball hard for the first time in late December and pitched in a preseason game a month later.

He experienced soreness in his shoulder when he began to pitch off a mound, but quickly overcame it.

“At first I was scared to throw,” Thobe said. “I figured that there would be pain because there always had been before. I still think about it some, but I’m getting past it.”

Thobe lacked the stamina to be a starter for Rancho Santiago this past spring, but as a short reliever he helped the Dons win the Orange Empire Conference championship.

Though he never pitched more than two innings in a row and could only rely on his fastball, he had an outstanding season.

Thobe set school single-season and career records with 11 saves. He had a 2-1 record with 22 strikeouts and eight walks in 25 1/3 innings over 21 games.

“A lot of people would have just hung up their careers, but he wanted to continue and worked hard to come back,” Sneddon said. “He was the key to our season.

“He has thrown well this summer, and the bad news for opponents is that he is getting his curveball over (the plate). Next year, he could be one of the best pitchers in the conference--if not the state.”

Seven of Thobe’s 11 saves were in conference games, and he was an All-Orange Empire Conference first-team selection.

“My arm has felt good all summer,” Thobe said. “I can’t wait for it (the season) to all start again. I hope to be a starter, but if I have to relieve then that would be OK, just as long as I get to pitch.”