HE WAS THE FIRST TO UNDERGO TOMMY JOHN SURGERY
June 27, 2007
Tommy John.
He was the first to undergo Tommy John surgery, and decades later his name lives on in the lingo of the game
Posted: Tuesday June 26, 2007 3:07PM; Updated: Wednesday June 27, 2007 1:56PM
By Gene Menez
This Where Are They Now feature and others like it can be found in the July 2nd issue of Sports Illustrated.
The visiting manager's office at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark is an insult to visiting manager's offices everywhere. There is no door. A stray jockstrap lies on the floor. Ashlee Simpson blares on the speakers overhead. Unfazed by his surroundings, the first-year Bridgeport Bluefish manager fills out his lineup card and lets out a whew! Five games into the season, he's relieved just to have remembered his players' names. "Now comes the hard part -- their numbers," he says. |
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John, 64, made 382 starts after his
groundbreaking operation in 1974.
Michael J. LeBrecht II/1Deuce3 Photography |
Such is life in the Atlantic League, an eight-team independent outfit full of former major league players and coaches dreaming of one more shot at the bigs. Bridgeport's manager isn't among them. He's already had his second chance -- and made his name.
Depending on your age and sense of baseball history, Tommy John is either the lefty who in 26 seasons won 288 games with six teams or shorthand for one of the best-known surgical procedures in sports. On Sept. 25, 1974, the 31-year-old John became the first person to undergo an ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. In the procedure, developed by Dr. Frank Jobe, a tendon in John's right forearm was removed and used to replace the torn ligament in his left elbow. Jobe rated John's chances of resuming his career at "1 in 100," but after rehabbing throughout '75, John went 90-45 with the Dodgers and the Yankees over the next five years and made three All-Star teams. More remarkably, from his return in '76 until retirement in '89, John never missed a scheduled start due to arm problems.
After a string of coaching and broadcasting jobs, John joined the Bluefish in December 2006. His legacy will always be a tug-of-war between the landmark surgery (hundreds of big leaguers, including Mariano Rivera and John Smoltz, have had it) and a near Hall of Fame career (excluding active players, he's the winningest pitcher without a plaque in Cooperstown). John says he's happy these days to be known more for his elbow than for his W's. Sporting an eight-inch scar on the inside of his left arm, he still throws batting practice before every game, painlessly. "He should," says his wife, Sally. "His arm is just 32 years old."
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