Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John passed away at the age of 83.
There are a few names in baseball that exemplify true impactfulness, but left-handed pitcher Tommy John was one of those few. The southpaw, whose name was synonymous with a procedure that protected the careers of future Major League pitchers, passed away at the age of 83.
John, born on May 22, 1943, in Terre Haute, Indiana, pitched across 26 MLB seasons for six teams, including the Cleveland Guardians (then Indians), Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, and Athletics.
The well-renowned "Tommy John" surgery occurred on September 25, 1974, as Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe performed a lengthy surgery on John's elbow, which comprised harvesting a tendon from John’s right forearm and drilling multiple holes in his left humerus and ulna bones.
Pitchers past and present across the league have undergone the notable surgery, with such names being Shohei Ohtani, Billy Wagner, John Smoltz, Justin Verlander, Stephen Strasburg, and many more.
What led to John having the procedure in the first place was that he first felt his elbow pop after throwing a fastball to Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) hitter Hal Breeden. He called for time and would not return to the game.
At first, John initially waited to have surgery, but two months of just icing his elbow and extended rest did nothing to help his ailing elbow. He pulled the trigger on proceeding with surgery, and with the faith that he had in Dr. Jobe, the rest is history.
"If Dr. Jobe told me to take a pail of my dog’s poops and go back to second base at Dodger Stadium and bury them, I would be OK with it,” John said via Bill Ladson of MLB.com. "I would have done it because I believed in Dr. Frank Jobe."
Still, it took more than a year and a half before the baseball world saw John take center stage on the mound on April 16, 1976.
John's time as a member of the Dodgers was an impactful stint for his long career.
He joined the Dodgers in December of 1971 via a trade, and pitched for six seasons at Dodger Stadium. Though he underwent the debut of Tommy John surgery in the middle of his Dodgers tenure, his return to the club propelled him.
In that two-year stint from 1976-1978, John, who received the nickname "The Bionic Man" after returning to the major leagues. was a key contributor to the Dodgers' late '70s playoff runs. John went 87-42 with a 2.97 ERA in 174 starts and recorded 37 complete games with 11 shutouts.
As the number two starter behind Dodgers legend Don Sutton, he helped the Dodgers make back-to-back appearances in the World Series against the Yankees. John recorded two winning decisions in the 1978 postseason against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS and the Yankees in the Fall Classic.
He pitched his last game on May 29, 1989.
