Before the surgery gets a name
Tommy John with Dr. Frank Jobe
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John undergoes a revolutionary operation on his left arm 49 years ago today as his ulnar collateral ligament is replaced with a tendon from his right wrist.
The procedure is performed by Dr. Frank Jobe and will forever be known as “Tommy John Surgery.”
The 31-year-old John, then with the Los Angeles Dodgers and already in his 12th year in the majors, misses the 1975 season and returns in 1976 to the Dodgers.
He pitches another 14 seasons in the majors, picking up 164 of his 288 career victories after the surgery.
“When they operated on my arm, I asked them to put in a (Sandy) Koufax fastball,” John says, “They did, but it turned out to be Mrs. Koufax.”
The second such surgery is performed in 1978 on pitcher Brent Strom shortly after his release from the San Diego Padres.
Strom, 29 at the time of his surgery, misses the entire 1979 season before making his comeback in the minors during the 1980 season.
Strom has sporadic success over three seasons in the minors for the Houston Astros and Dodgers before retiring and becoming one of the most well-respected pitching coaches over the last four-plus decades.
“When you win 288 games in the major leagues and it works, it’s called ‘Tommy John surgery,’ ” Strom later says. “When you win 22 games in the majors and it doesn’t work, then it’s called ‘Brent Strom surgery.’ ”
Brent Strom, left, with Tommy John in a photo taken by the New York Daily News during the 2002 season, when Strom was the Montreal Expos’ minor league pitching coordinator and John was the Expos’ pitching coach at Class AA Harrisburg.