Tommy John, the major league pitcher who achieved 288 victories over a 26-year career and became the first player to successfully return after revolutionary elbow surgery later named in his honor, has died at age 83.
He passed away Saturday night at his home in Bradenton, Florida, according to his agent Mike Maguire on Sunday. He was under hospice care.
On Aug. 8, the New York Yankees shared a social media post written by John to bid farewell to friends and supporters from his career, writing, “I will never forget you.”
A four-time All-Star, the left-hander compiled a 288-231 record with a 3.34 ERA between 1963 and 1989. His career included stints with Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the California Angels and the Oakland Athletics.
John was 31 in 1974 when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm, an injury that had historically ended pitchers’ careers.
Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe replaced the damaged ligament with a tendon taken from John’s right forearm. Jobe calculated the procedure had just a 100-to-1 chance of succeeding.
“Dr. Jobe, if you do your job, I’ll do mine,” John told the physician at the time.
Known as baseball’s “Bionic Man,” he went on to pitch for an additional 14 seasons following the operation.
In his Aug. 8 message, John expressed his gratitude: “Thanks to Dr. Jobe, who saved my arm & made it possible for me to continue pitching.”
The MLB paid tribute to John in a post Sunday, writing, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Tommy John, a veteran of 26 MLB seasons who helped revolutionize recovery from pitching injuries in the 1970s. John broke in with Cleveland as a 20-year-old in 1963 and made his last appearance for the Yankees at age 46 in 1989, also pitching for the White Sox, Dodgers, Angels, and Athletics.
The statement continued, “The left-hander won 288 games, made 4 All-Star teams and anchored 3 pennant-winning teams, while twice finishing as a runner-up for the Cy Young Award. His 700 games started rank 8th on the all-time list. After John injured his elbow in 1974, he received the first ulnar collateral ligament replacement surgery from Dr. Frank Jobe. John returned to pitch in 1976, then won 20 games three times in four years from 1977-80. He would go on to pitch 14 of his 26 seasons after the procedure that is now known as Tommy John Surgery, a measure that has helped extend pitching careers in the more than half a century since it was first performed. He was 83.”
