Tommy John died Saturday at 83, the Dodgers announced. In July 1974 John ruptured the medial ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and agreed to a then-radical reconstruction by Dr. Frank Jobe that came to be called Tommy John surgery. John had 124 major-league wins in 12 seasons before the operation and went on to win 164 more over 14 additional seasons, finishing his 26-year career at age 46 with a 288-231 record and a 3.34 earned-run average. John credited Jobe, saying "Dr. Jobe made it so I could throw a baseball again," and Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten praised John’s impact on and off the field. The procedure revived John’s career and has since prolonged the careers of hundreds of pitchers, from Tom Candiotti and John Smoltz to Shohei Ohtani, and it is now known in medical literature as ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. John’s best stretch came with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he went 87-42 with a 2.97 ERA and helped the team to consecutive World Series appearances. His death removes a singular figure whose name became shorthand for a surgery that reshaped baseball medicine and preserved thousands of pitching careers.
