Tommy John, the longtime Major League baseball pitcher whose name is forever linked to the groundbreaking elbow surgery that saved his career and those of countless others since, has died, officials said Sunday.
He was 83.
John is survived by his wife and three children, Tommy, Travis and Tamara, according to a statement from the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the southpaw’s six major league teams.
John had been in hospice care, Reuters reported last week.
“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 Stan Kasten said in a statement.
“His impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come,” Kasten said.
John will be best known for years with the Dodgers and New York Yankees, two of the sports’s most famed franchises.
He skipped last weekend’s annual Old-Timers’ Day event at Yankee Stadium and issued a statement, announcing his retirement from public life.
He expressed gratitude to Yankees owners and staff in his farewell, as well as to the doctor who saved his career with a surgery to repair a torn ligament in his elbow.
“That surgery has since gone on to save the careers of countless pitchers, including may of the very best in the game today,” John wrote. “Thank you to all the fans who supported me & my teammates for 26 years. I will never forget you.”
The Yankees released a statement following John’s death describing him as a “bedrock” of the team’s pitching rotation and a favorite among the fans. It went on to note that the story of John’s famed surgery overshadowed his work on the mound, which included consecutive 20‑win seasons with the Yankees.
“We pause to remember the totality of his legacy — his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer,” the team said.
John’s MLB career began with a short stint in Cleveland in 1963 before he was traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 1965 campaign. He was playing on the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974 when a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow blew his season.
Dr. Frank Jobe, the team’s doctor at the time, performed a surgery to replace the ligament with a tendon from elsewhere in his body. The procedure had never been performed before and was revolutionary at the time.
That surgery is now named after the pitcher, who became known as the “Bionic Man” following a thrilling return from what should have been a career-ending injury.
John told The New York Times in 1977 that he spent the entire 1975 season rebuilding strength in his arm. He worked with team trainer Bill Buhler, soaked his arm and even squeezed Silly Putty to help regain his strength.
“I put together three of those Silly Putty eggs,” John said. “Bill Buhler told me that Silly Putty was better than a rubber ball because I could squeeze all the way through it.”
It would be two years before John would finally return to the Dodgers rotation, making 31 starts and managing two shutouts in his 1976 comeback season.
He recorded the first of his three 20-win seasons in 1977, helping the Dodgers to the National League pennant that year.
He had another solid year in 1978, as L.A. won another NL flag, before signing a free agent deal that ensuing winter to join the Yankees, who had beaten the Dodgers in consecutive World Series.
