LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tommy John, the four-time All-Star pitcher who won 288 games during a 26-year Major League Baseball career and became the first pitcher to successfully return from the elbow surgery that now bears his name, died Saturday at his home in Bradenton, Florida. He was 83.
John’s agent, Mike Maguire, confirmed his death Sunday and said he had been receiving hospice care.
The New York Yankees, one of John’s former teams, said he was “a bedrock of our rotation during his time in pinstripes and a longtime favorite of Yankees fans.”
John finished his career with a 288-231 record and a 3.34 ERA from 1963 to 1989. He pitched for Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees, the California Angels and the Oakland Athletics.
His baseball legacy, however, extended far beyond his statistics.
In 1974, at age 31, John tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. At the time, the injury typically ended a pitcher’s career.
Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe replaced the damaged ligament with a tendon taken from John’s right forearm. Jobe initially gave the procedure 100-to-1 odds of succeeding.
John returned to the Dodgers in 1976, becoming the first pitcher to return to Major League Baseball after undergoing UCL reconstruction.
The procedure later became known as Tommy John surgery and has since helped thousands of professional and amateur athletes continue their careers. More than 2,600 major leaguers have undergone the surgery, according to available records.
John won 124 games before the surgery and 164 afterward. He reached the 20-win mark in 1977, finishing second in National League Cy Young Award voting.
“Tommy was an exceptional pitcher throughout his career in Major League Baseball, and his courageous role in becoming the first to have surgery that would go on to bear his name can’t be overstated,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said.
John made his major league debut with Cleveland in 1963. He later established himself as a starter with the White Sox before joining the Dodgers in 1971.
His career totals included 2,245 strikeouts. He appeared in his final major league game in 1989 at age 46.
Despite his accomplishments, John never received enough support for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He appeared on the Hall’s ballot from 1995 through 2009 but never received more than 31.7% of the vote, well below the 75% required.
John later worked as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins and Yankees and managed the Bridgeport Bluefish from 2007 to 2009.
He also expressed concern about the increasing use of his namesake surgery among young athletes.
“I am sick my name is attached to a surgery happening in kids more than pros,” John wrote in 2018.
John was born Thomas Edward John Jr. on May 22, 1943, in Terre Haute, Indiana. He graduated as valedictorian of Gerstmeyer High School in 1961 before choosing baseball over a basketball opportunity at the University of Kentucky.
The Yankees said John’s legacy included not only his longevity and influence on sports medicine but also his competitiveness, kindness and contributions to baseball.
John is survived by his second wife, Cheryl, and children Tamara, Tommy III and Travis, along with son-in-law Patrick Mannelly. His daughter Taylor died in 2010 at age 28 from a prescription drug overdose.
