(#105)
In 1974, Tommy John, a left-handed major league pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a potentially career-ending injury when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in a game against the Montreal Expos. Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodger physician, performed ligament replacement surgery on John later that year.
During the surgery, Dr. Jobe replaced the ligament in the elbow of John’s pitching arm with a tendon from his right forearm. He made holes in the humerus and ulna bones of John’s left arm and used anchors to insert the tendon in what was roughly a figure-eight shape.
The recovery was long and slow due to the injury to ulnar nerve.
John missed the 1975 season recovering from surgery, but he became the first pitcher to successfully return to baseball following the surgery. Tommy John Surgery has since become a common procedure and household name among baseball pitchers, amateur and professional with thousands of pitchers having received it at some point during their careers. It’s the most famous medical procedure in all of sports.
The most common UCL injury is a tear that is usually gradual but may also happen in a single traumatic event. Pain on the inner side of the elbow is the most common symptom. Players may sometimes feel a “pop” after throwing followed by intense pain.
Jacob deGrom, Steven Strasburg, John Smoltz are famous major leaguers, along with many others, who had the injury and the surgery, recovered, had great results and prolonged careers in the Bigs. So far Smoltz is the only “Tommy John” pitcher in Cooperstown.
But Tommy John was the first pitcher to have Tommy John surgery. He was 31 at the time and had about a 1 in 100 chance to recover and pitch again. He did both and picked up 164 of his 288 career wins after the surgery. He had his first 20 win season in 1977.
He pitched for 7 ML teams over 26 seasons from 1963-1989.
He certainly left a legacy. Kids and professionals all over the country have torn their UCLs and required the repair, extensive rehab, and finally recovery. Some have had multiple procedures and many have come back stronger and throwing harder than ever. Some have not.
I wonder if the Bionic Man, as he was known, gets compensation for his name, image, and likeness (NIL). People say, “I hurt my Tommy John.” It’s actually called Tommy John Surgery. There must be a dollar sign on that ligament. Let’s just say he probably does in some form, if not just the notoriety.
And no, he’s not the Tommy John Underwear guy.
Dr. Jobe and John had said for a long time that they were alarmed by the numbers of 12 to 17-year-olds who are having the operation.
“It’s like an epidemic, and it’s going to grow exponentially,” John said. “These kids are rupturing the ligament. They’re playing year-round baseball.” Justin Verlander, he argued, does not pitch-year round. Why do teenagers?
“The ligament needs rest,” Jobe said. (From The New York Times, Richard Sandomin, July 27, 2013).
It does indeed.
We were playing LSUE in the early 2000’s and facing a hard throwing right-hander (his name escapes me) who had signed early with USM. He was dominating us. And then all of the sudden, he threw a pitch and it sounded like an explosion, the ball went to the top of the backstop by the third base dugout, and he went to the ground like a snipper shot him and was in excruciating pain. I heard it and saw it all from the third base coaches box.
The trainer came out and they escorted him off the field and I felt really bad for him. Not for them, but for him. And then I had a thought running through the harder side of my brain that said, “Thank God he’s not pitching in this game anymore. Now maybe we have a chance.”
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 