Tommy John: The Career Behind The Surgery

"Tommy John Surgery" has become part of the lexicon of baseball when a pitcher (most often) has elbow surgery, and right along with "Dr. James Andrews" strikes fear into fans if a player on your favorite team requires the surgery named for the former major league pitcher.

Some may wonder about John, the pitcher who underwent the revolutionary surgery in the mid 1970's and went on to win 164 more games post-surgery before retiring after the 1989 season.

Let's take a look at Tommy John's career:

John came to the big leagues in 1963 with the Cleveland Indians, but would win only two games in his first two seasons in 31 appearances (17 starts). A better opportunity would come when he was traded to the Chicago White Sox prior to the 1965 season and John would make at least 25 starts in each of his seven seasons with the White Sox, winning at least 10 games in six of those campaigns. His first career All-Star Game selection also came as a member of the White Sox in 1968.  Also of note is John's three seasons with 10 complete games while with the Pale Hose (1966, 1970, 1971).

John's career would continue an upward swing upon being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in December of 1971, as he set a career-high for wins in a season (16) in 1973. But things would be derailed for a time during the 1974 season, when John suffered a severe elbow injury and it was feared he may not pitch again. What followed was the unprecedented surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in John's left (throwing, obviously) elbow, where a tendon was taken from his right forearm to repair the ligament.

John would miss the entire 1975 season while recovering from the surgery, but showed he could indeed pitch again by making 31 starts and topping 200 innings in 1976 for the Dodgers along with a 10-10 record and 3.09 ERA. Things would be even better in 1977, when John had his first career 20-win season (20-7 record) while pitching 220.1 innings with a 2.78 ERA as he finished second in the National League Cy Young Award voting. He would start a run of three straight All-Star Game selections in 1978 (17-10, 3.30 ERA, 213 innings), including back-to-back 20 win seasons in 1979 (21) and 1980 (22) after being dealt to the New York Yankees, and finished in the top 10 of the Cy Young Award voting in all three of those campaigns.

John was traded to the California Angels in August of 1982, but was not particularly impressive (24-32 record, 4.40 ERA, 76 starts) there before being released in June 1985. The Oakland Athletics signed John in July of 1985, but he went just 2-6 with a 6.19 ERA over 11 starts with the team before becoming a free agent after that season.

John re-joined the New York Yankees for the 1986 season and would start 65 games for them during the 1987 and 1988 seasons combined, highlighted by going 13-6 with a 4.03 ERA over 32 starts (187.2 innings) in 1987. His final major league season came with the Yankees in 1989, as John went 2-7 with a 5.80 ERA in 10 starts.

John finished with a 288-231 record over 26 major league seasons, a win total that is good for 26th all-time right now, along with a 3.34 career ERA and 162 complete games. He made 760 appearances, including 700 starts (eighth all-time).

John has yet to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, as he failed to get enough votes in his final year of eligibility on the writer's ballot in 2009.


Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference