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By John Gearan '65
Healing others can bring a doctor ultimate joy, no matter who the patient happens to be. So imagine the emotional jolt George A. Paletta ’84 gets as he fixes a broken thoroughbred athlete striving to become a world champion.
Picture this: Since 1998, Paletta has been specializing in restoring very valuable body parts for multimillion-dollar athletes who refer to themselves as Cardinals and Rams. In the spring of 2003, he meets Chris Carpenter, a 6-foot-6-inch, 230-pound horse of a man considered to have tremendous pitching potential that, at age 27, has gone largely unfulfilled. Carpenter’s right shoulder had been operated on in 2002 to fix a torn labrum before he left Toronto to sign as a free agent with St. Louis. The righty misses the 2003 season. On July 29, Paletta repairs the labrum—removing irritating scar tissue from Carpenter’s shoulder—and rehabs his precious pitching arm.
In 2004, Carpenter posts a 15-5 record—and is named the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year. A biceps injury prevents him from competing against the Red Sox in the World Series. In 2005, Carpenter (21-5, 2.83 ERA) wins the Cy Young Award. Last year, the Cardinals dominate the Detroit Tigers (4-1) in the World Series as Carpenter throws a splendid Game 3 three-hit shutout.
The locker room scene is champagne-squirting bacchanal. An elated Carpenter embraces Paletta, telling him that his dreams have come true, thanks to Team Paletta’s extraordinary care and skill.
Snapshots of ecstasy abound. Paletta, celebrating with his wife, Jackie, and his mother, Judy, sees his 14-year-old daughter Sarah being hugged by Series MVP David Eckstein.
“Doc, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here!” yells Eckstein, who played with a sore rib cage.
Jim Edmonds, the Cards’ emotional leader who had performed banged up and bandaged all season, echoes Eckstein’s sentiments. So do many others.
This season Carpenter is pitching with a new contract worth $65 million for five seasons. In early April, Paletta detected an impingement in Carpenter’s swollen right elbow and placed him on the disabled list.
And so goes the roller-coaster ride.
Paletta now has two championship rings: one emblematic of the Cardinals World Series triumph and, another, for the 2000 St. Louis Rams NFL Super Bowl victory.
Associated with Washington Hospital from 1998 to 2005, Paletta and eight other partners now operate a new, state-of-the-art, 60,000 square-foot facility called the Orthopedic Center of St. Louis. No longer treating Rams, Paletta remains the Cardinals’ main medicine man.
Life is good at the top.
Perfect for an orthopedic surgeon. All the resources money can buy. A variety of specialists on his medical squad. Trainers working on rehab daily with highly motivated patients.
The Ride has been breathtaking, with Paletta cheering for athletes whose careers he has had a direct hand in salvaging: He delicately inserted two steel pins into a finger on Kurt Warner’s hand so the quarterback could throw a spiral again—and has operated on the legendary likes of sluggers Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols. As a medical student, he even treated Bruce Springsteen when “The Boss” sprained his ankle during a performance.
For Paletta, however, the most fortunate moment of his life came when he met his future wife, Jackie, a surgical nurse, during his general-surgery internship at Northwestern University Memorial Hospital in Chicago; they married in 1990. Since then, Jackie has attained a Ph.D. in nursing education from Columbia University. The couple has four children: Sarah, 14; Savannah, 12; George III, 10; and Emma, 8. A stay-at-home mom, Jackie manages the kinetic lives of this family of six better than Tony LaRussa juggles the Cardinal lineup.
Without the love and support of his family, Paletta acknowledges, he could not have built his thriving practice that involves attending to players at spring training, 81 Cardinal home games and postseason encounters—as well as overseeing the medical needs of the Cards’ minor league teams.
It doesn’t get much better than this, he admits.
Give Another Hoiah! continued >>
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