Overview
- His agent confirmed late Sunday that Tommy John died Saturday at his home in Bradenton, Florida, after entering hospice care following recent battles with bladder cancer and other ailments.
- John pitched 26 major-league seasons, finished with a 288-231 record, was a four-time All-Star, and never earned election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- Dodgers surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe performed the experimental UCL reconstruction on John in September 1974, John missed the 1975 season, returned in 1976, and won 164 games after the operation.
- John published a public farewell on Aug. 8 in which he thanked Dr. Jobe and Yankees fans, and Major League teams including the Yankees and Dodgers issued tributes after his death.
- The procedure that bears his name has been widely adopted—medical estimates put its use among hundreds to thousands of players—and John later expressed concern about its growing use among young athletes while he worked on suicide-prevention advocacy after family tragedies.