When Dodgers surgeon Frank Jobe devised the operation that became known as Tommy John surgery, he rejected the usual practice of naming procedures for doctors and instead acknowledged the player’s role, according to the source. The reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament has since preserved thousands of pitching careers and repaired tens of thousands of elbows, a medical milestone that outlasts its creators.
Tommy John, who died at 83 after a 2024 bladder cancer diagnosis, won 288 major-league games across a 26-season career, according to the source. He logged more innings than all but 19 of nearly 10,000 men who have pitched in the majors, accomplishments that are notable but often overshadowed by the surgery that carried his name.
The operation—performed Sept. 25, 1974—used a palmaris longus tendon from the wrist to rebuild the torn UCL in John’s left elbow, according to the source. Jobe, already regarded as one of the country’s leading orthopedic surgeons and the Dodgers’ team physician, diagnosed the injury with X-rays at a time when MRIs were not yet in clinical use.
After feeling a crack while delivering a sinker in July 1974 and immediately seeking Jobe, John was given a stark choice: return home and leave baseball or accept an experimental reconstruction, according to the source. Jobe initially downplayed prospects—telling John the odds were poor—while privately estimating a much higher chance of success, and John accepted the risk rather than end his career.
The recovery was not without complications: an early nerve transposition left John’s left hand temporarily impaired and required a second operation in December 1974 to reposition the ulnar nerve, which proved effective, according to the source. In the decades since, John’s name has become synonymous with elbow injuries and surgical revival, invoked routinely whenever pitchers report forearm tightness or elbow pain.
