“Thanks to Dr. Jobe, who saved my arm & made it possible for me to continue pitching,” John said in his statement. “That surgery has since gone on to save the careers of countless pitchers, including many of the very best in the game today.”
The procedure has become so common, the word “surgery” is often dropped in baseball parlance. A player could say he’s “having Tommy John” and those in the game would know exactly what that meant.
Some of modern baseball’s greatest pitchers, such as Justin Verlander, Shohei Ohtani, Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale, have had this surgery.
John’s career included stints with the Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels, Oakland A’s and Cleveland Indians.
“The day I left for my first job as a pitcher, my father looked at me & said, ‘Good luck, Tommy. Just remember one thing: whether you make it big in the big leagues or you don’t, you’ll always just be Tommy John from Terre Haute, Indiana.”
“I’ve never forgotten those words. Thank you & God Bless.”