Tommy John, who won 288 games during a 26-year big league career and became the first pitcher to successfully return following groundbreaking elbow surgery that later was named after him, has died at the age of 83.
He died at his home in Bradenton, Florida, on Saturday night, agent Mike Maguire said Sunday. He had been in hospice care.
On August 8, the New York Yankees released a social media post in which John wrote that he wanted to say goodbye to everyone, including friends and fans who followed him throughout his career, saying, ‘I will never forget you.’
The Yankees called John ‘a bedrock of our rotation during his time in pinstripes and a longtime favorite of Yankees fans.’
John was a four-time All-Star with a record of 288-231 and a 3.34 ERA during a career that stretched from 1963 to 1989. He pitched for Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees, the California Angels and the Oakland Athletics.
‘Tommy was an exceptional pitcher throughout his career in Major League Baseball, and his courageous role in becoming the first to have surgery that would go on to bear his name can´t be overstated,’ Stan Kasten, Dodgers president and CEO, said in a statement. ‘His impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come.’
Baseball legend Tommy John has died at the age of 83
The left-hander was 31 years old when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow in 1974, a death knell for pitchers’ careers to that point.
John allowed Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers´ team physician, to replace the ligament with a tendon from his right forearm. Jobe gave the surgery 100-to-1 odds of being successful.
The procedure had been done on others before, although it was usually performed on wrists and hands. John was the first pitcher to have it done on his elbow.
More than 2,600 big leaguers and thousands more amateurs have since had UCL reconstructions, better known as Tommy John surgery. It´s been a godsend for many of baseball´s greatest stars, including two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and even Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper.
‘If you put it in dollars and cents, I think there´s no question that Tommy John is the most valuable reconstructive procedure there is,’ Dodgers team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache told The Associated Press in 2024.
John recorded 2,245 strikeouts but never led either league in wins or strikeouts. He had the second-most wins of any pitcher since 1900 not to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
From 1995 through 2009, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he never received more than 31.7 per cent of the votes, falling well short of the 75 per cent required for election.
Known for his longevity, John was the opening day starter for both the 1966 Chicago White Sox and the 1989 New York Yankees. He won 124 games before his UCL repair and 164 after. His final appearance came days after his 46th birthday.
John won 288 games for the Indians, White Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Athletics and Yankees
John pictured with his wife, Sally; daughter, Tami; and son, Tommy Jr. back in 1984
After his pitching career ended, John worked as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins and Yankees in the 1990s. He managed the Bridgeport Bluefish from 2007-09.
John was hospitalized in December 2020 because of COVID-19 and later had Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which a person´s immune system attacks their nerves.
John told the New York Post in May 2022 that he was paralyzed in his lower extremities for several months.
John and his wife Sally Simmons had four children: Tamara, Tommy III, Travis and Taylor, who died of a prescription drug overdose at 28 in 2010. The couple divorced in 2013.
Besides his children, he is survived by his second wife, Cheryl, and son-in-law Patrick Mannelly, a retired NFL long snapper who played 16 years for the Chicago Bears.
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