An Overview Of The Boston Red Sox Medical System

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The Boston Red Sox organization's medical system is an extremely involved structure with Red Sox Medical Director Arthur Pappas serving as the director and coordinator of the entire system and Dr. Bill Morgan serving as the newly appointed Red Sox Team Doctor.

This Red Sox medical system is comprised of individual, but very much connected, medical sub- systems for each team that encompasses the Red Sox player development system, from the rehabilitation program in Ft. Myers, the rookie ball and single-A affiliates, to the ML ballclub itself. Pappas oversees this entire system of medical care that ensures continuity and coordination of care. This medical system is also in place to ensure the proper conditioning and preparation of the players in the Red Sox organization to compete as athletes and baseball players.

In addition to serving as the Red Sox Medical Director, Dr. Pappas is also Professor and Chairman of the Department of Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation and Professor of Pediatrics at the UMass Medical Center. His teaching and patient interests are focused on the orthopedic care of professional and amateur athletes, as well as the orthopedic care of handicapped children. He is also President of the Massachusetts Amateur Sports Foundation, serves on the Committee on Sports Medicine for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Massachusetts Hospital in Canton, MA, a hospital school for severely handicapped children. Pappas is a past President of the Association of Professional Baseball Physicians and President of the Orthopedic Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He also currently serves on the Board of Overseers for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

The success stories of athletes treated by Pappas from the baseball world, as well as all sports, are numerous and impressive. To name a few, they include: Cy Young Award Winners Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Roger Clemens, Jim Lonborg, and Dennis Eckersley, National Football League star Jim Nance, and British Olympic Track star Dave Hemery, who went on to win a Gold Medal. Pappas has treated Olympic Figure Skaters every year since 1968, including four-time U.S. Champion Todd Eldridge and Olympic Pairs Skaters Peter and Kitty Carruthers, who went on to win a Silver Medal in the Olympics at Sarevjo as well as the World Championship.

Dr. Pappas, a native of Auburn, MA, is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He received his orthopedic residency training at the Children's, Massachusetts General and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. Prior to assuming his position at UMass Medical Center, he was the interim Orthopedic Surgeon in Chief at the Children's Hospital and surgeon to the Harvard College athletic department.

In addition to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, the Red Sox also have relationships with a number of local hospitals that provide medical care for the organization's players, including Children's Hospital, Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Beth Israel Hospital. The medical care that Dr. Pappas oversees serves not only to ensure the optimum performance of players in the Red Sox system, but also exists as a measure of medical prevention against injury. In addition to a training staff at each level of the Red Sox system, there are doctors as well, who respond on a daily basis to the medical needs of the players. As the organization's Medical Director, Pappas oversees the coordinated medical efforts of each team's medical staff, which all serve to care for the day-to-day physical and mental well being of all the players that comprise the entire Red Sox organization. The communication network of the minor league system runs from each level to Dr. Pappas as Medical Director.

Boston Red Sox Major League Ballclub

The day-to-day medical care of the Boston Red Sox major league ballclub is the responsibility of and overseen by Red Sox Team Physician Dr. William (Bill) Morgan. Morgan has worked under the guidance and as a colleague of Dr. Pappas since his surgical internship began at UMass in 1981. Morgan's current credentials include his positions as University of Massachusetts Medical Center's Chief Hand and Upper Extremity Service Director, Orthopedic Ambulatory Clinic Director, and UMass Medical School Professor of Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation. Much of Morgan's current research involves baseball, including the biomechanics of pitching and problems with the elbow in baseball players from throwing and wrist kinematics in pitching. In addition to recently serving as a Medical Consultant and Hand Surgeon for the Red Sox since 1986, Morgan has also served as a Boston Celtics Medical Consultant and Surgeon.

Morgan also currently serves as a Surgeon in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, MA, and St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Boston, MA, as well as serving as a Medical Consultant at the Massachusetts Hospital School for the Crippled and as a Provisional Staff member at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. Bill was born in South Boston, MA and was raised in Quincy, MA. He attended North Quincy High School, Boston University, Baylor College of Medicine, and University of Texas Medical prior to his surgical internship at UMass Medical Center. Morgan was an Orthopedic Resident at UMass Medical from 1982-1986 and served as Chief Resident of Orthopedic Surgery at UMass from 1985-1986.