Tommy John, Yankees great who had surgery named after him, dead at 83
Tommy John, whose major league career was extended after he became the first player to undergo the elbow surgery that now carries his name, has died.He was 83.He had been in hospice care at his home in Bradenton, Fla.
The left-handed pitcher spent 26 seasons in the majors and won 288 games — 164 of which came after his elbow was famously repaired.Only scandal-plagued Roger Clemens has more career victories in the Modern Era and isn’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame.Already an All-Star pitcher with the White Sox earlier in his career, John was a standout starter with the Dodgers when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow during the 1974 season.Team physician Dr.Frank Jobe replaced the ligament in the first surgery of its kind.After missing all of 1975, John returned with Los Angeles a year later and quickly returned to top form.In 1977, John finished second in the National League Cy Young voting.In a farewell letter published online on Aug.
8 during Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, John thanked Jobe, whom John said “saved my arm and made it possible for me to continue pitching.That surgery has since gone on to save the careers of countless pitchers, including many of the very best in the game today.”John was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 22, 1943 and graduated from Gerstmeyer High School.
Despite scholarship offers to play college basketball, John signed with Cleveland as an amateur free agent out of high school and made his MLB debut with the then-Indians in 1963, when he was 20.John was traded to the White Sox prior to the 1965 season and was an All-Star in 1968.He spent seven seasons with Chicago before the Dodgers acquired him in December 1971 in exchange for Hall of Famer Dick Allen.John started three World Series games against the Yankees — one in 1977 and two in ‘78 — before signing with the Yankees as a free agent before the 1979 season.In each of his first two years in The Bronx, John topped 20 wins.He finished seco...