Baseball Mourns Tommy John, Pioneer of Career-Saving Surgery

Tommy John, the former Major League Baseball pitcher whose groundbreaking elbow surgery allowed generations of players to recover from injury, has died at age 83. According to MLB.com, as reported by Sports Illustrated, John had recently been treated for a recurrence of bladder cancer.

John's career was defined by a medical gamble that changed the sport. While with the Los Angeles Dodgers, overuse led John to rupture the medial collateral ligament in his left elbow. On Sept. 25, 1974, Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe performed a procedure to replace the fraying ligament using a substitute from John's right wrist. Dr. Jobe told Sports Illustrated in 1978 that the ligament had so many years of wear that there was "nothing left to repair."

Yahoo Sports notes that while John's career could have ended after 12 seasons, the surgery enabled him to play for another 14 years. After missing the 1975 season to recuperate, John returned to the Dodgers in 1976 and went on to record 164 of his 288 career wins. Over a 26-year career, John pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, California Angels, and Oakland A's.

Writing in a farewell letter shared by the New York Yankees, John credited Dr. Jobe for saving his arm and noted that the procedure has since saved the careers of many of the best pitchers in the game today.