Chiropractic Helps Pitcher To Stardom

Just one year ago, baseball pitcher Cole Hamels was on his team’s disabled list and sat out the entire month of September with injuries. Now, this same pitcher is the celebrated winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the World Series while leading his team to a World Championship.

Hamels is a pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies. Toward the end of the 2007 season, he developed elbow problems that were severe enough to keep him on the sidelines. Earlier in his career he’d also suffered from knee and hip concerns and had been helped through these problems with Chiropractic care.

Prior to the start of the 2008 season, Hamels went to the Phillies front office with a request. He wanted the organization to provide the services of a chiropractor to himself and his team while they were at home in Philadelphia. And, he took his request one step further. He wanted the Phillies to provide for his Chiropractic care while the team was on the road and playing in many different cities around the country.

When the team agreed, Hamels had this to say. “Ever since I’ve used one (a chiropractor) it’s done wonders for me. It’s great that they (team management) is going out of their way to get a network going.” It was April 2008 when he made this comment. At the time he also said that with Chiropractic services fully available, that he felt he could, one day, reach the magic number of becoming a 20 game winner for a season.

Hamels didn’t quite reach the 20 game regular season number this year. He finished the year with an impressive 14-10 record. However, this helped his team to a conference championship and a position in the playoffs, and it was in this portion of the season that a healthy Hamels really began to shine.

His first play-off appearances came against the Milwaukee Brewers. He was the winning pitcher as his team advanced to the next round against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hamels pitched the first game of this series and again came out the winner and the Phillies advanced to the World Series. Hamels also came away with the individual honor of being named the MVP for the League Championship Series.

With this success behind him and his health and confidence booming, Hamels was on the mound for the first game of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays and won the game. Finally, with the series on the line, Hamels got the call again for the deciding game and was the winning pitcher for that one as well. His performance netted him the coveted MVP award for the 2008 World Series!

Hamels post-season performance and his personal 4 victory and 0 loss record in the play-offs will long be remembered. Unlike the fall of 2007 where he was forced to watch play-off games on television while nursing a sore pitching arm, he was now the toast of the town while making personal television appearances on the likes of the Late Night Show with David Letterman.

It is quite apparent that Hamels’ confidence in Chiropractic and his ability to get involved in taking care of his own health had everything to do with his successful season. Congratulations to Cole Hamels, the Philadelphia Phillies and Chiropractic for a World Championship season.

Source

Kid Chiropractic

“World Series MVP Cole Hamels Presents the Top Ten List on CBS’s Late Night Show with David Letterman.” October 2008.

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/div.php/cbs_entertainment/release?id=20014