Baseball legend Tommy John, the longtime Major League pitcher whose name became forever linked to one of the most important surgeries in sports, has died at 83.
John spent an incredible 26 seasons in the majors, playing much of his career with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers and racking up 288 victories along the way.
But his biggest impact on baseball may have come off the mound.
During the 1974 season, John tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, an injury that at the time threatened to end his career for good.
With few options available, Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe performed a groundbreaking operation that had never been done on a major league pitcher before.
The procedure involved reconstructing the damaged elbow ligament and eventually became known simply as “Tommy John surgery.”
At the time, there was no guarantee John would ever pitch again.
Instead, he made a remarkable comeback and returned to the mound the following season, eventually continuing his career for many more years.
The surgery went on to revolutionize baseball, saving the careers of generations of pitchers who suffered similar elbow injuries.
John recently reflected on that legacy during Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 8.
He credited Jobe with giving him a second chance at his career.
“He saved my arm and made it possible for me to continue pitching,” John said.
He added that the surgery had since helped “countless pitchers,” including some of the biggest stars in the game.
John’s baseball career stretched from the 1960s through the late 1980s, a remarkable run that made him one of the sport’s most durable pitchers.
He had previously been diagnosed with bladder cancer.
John is survived by his second wife, Cheryl, his sons Tommy III and Travis, and his daughter, Tamara Mannelly.
While generations of baseball fans remember him for his work on the mound, his name will also live on every time a pitcher undergoes the surgery that once saved his own career.
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