Tommy John, namesake for a pioneering elbow surgery that saved his career, dead at 83
Tommy John, who won 288 games during a 26-year big league career and became the first pitcher to successfully return following groundbreaking elbow surgery that later was named after him, has died. He was 83.
Tommy John, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, has died at the age of 83. He passed away at his home in Bradenton, Florida, according to his agent Mike Maguire. John had been in hospice care before his death on Saturday night.
During his 26-year career, John won 288 games, which is the second-most of any pitcher in MLB's modern era not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, according to the Toronto Sun. He was a four-time All-Star and had a record of 288-231 with a 3.34 ERA. John pitched for several teams, including Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the California Angels, and the Oakland Athletics.
John's career was marked by a groundbreaking elbow surgery performed by Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974, which was later named after him. At the time, Jobe gave the surgery 100-to-1 odds of being successful. However, John recovered and went on to pitch for another 14 seasons, earning the nickname "Bionic Man."
Brief written by urgent.news from CBC News, Toronto Sun, Associated Press, Yahoo Sports — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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