The late, great Tommy John played a whopping 26 seasons for various teams in Major League Baseball. After a devastating injury in 1974, a Los Angeles Dodgers doctor gave pitcher Tommy John's torn elbow ligament a 1-in-100 shot at ever working again. At the time, this injury was seen as a career ender. After this doctor performed a pioneering surgery to repair his elbow, John went on to pitch for 14 more seasons and win a ton more games than he'd won before his injury. Swipe ahead to learn more about how one MLB player's injury led to a major sports medicine breakthrough.

Already an All-Star

By 1974, John was 31 and quietly one of the better lefties in the American League. Traded from Cleveland to the White Sox in 1965, he made his first All-Star team in 1968 with a 1.98 ERA. At this point, nobody knew that the surgery that would repair a major injury would change sports medicine. They were talking more about his sinker.

Photography: UPI

The Pitch That Ended It

On July 17, 1974, pitching for the Dodgers, John felt his elbow give out on a routine pitch. He'd completely torn the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left arm. At the time, that injury was considered a career-ender, often referred to as dead arm.

A 100-to-1 Bet

Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe proposed something no one had tried on a pitcher: replace the torn ligament with a tendon taken from John's right forearm. Jobe told him the odds of success were about 100 to 1, but John decided to go through with it anyway.

Four Months in a Cast

The surgery, performed September 25, 1974, took four hours. Jobe drilled holes in John's humerus and ulna and threaded the tendon through in a figure-eight pattern. John's arm sat in a cast for four months. He didn't pitch again until 1976 — and spent all of 1975 just rebuilding strength.

The Comeback

After John's return, he was on fire. Of his 288 career wins, 166 came after the surgery. Of his 4,710⅓ career innings, more than half — 2,544⅔ — were thrown on the rebuilt elbow. He made three World Series appearances after the procedure, twice with the Dodgers against the Yankees and once with the Yankees against the Dodgers ironically.

26 Seasons, Six Teams

John pitched in the majors from 1963 to 1989: his 26 season career is tied for third-longest in MLB history. He suited up for six teams: the Indians, White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, Angels, and Athletics. He retired at 46 with 288 wins, a 3.34 ERA and 2,245 strikeouts. Only one pitcher not in the Hall of Fame has won more games since 1900.

Now a Routine Surgery

More than 2,600 major leaguers have had the ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction procedure now known simply as Tommy John surgery. Thousands more amateur players have had it too. What started as a 1% shot in the dark now succeeds roughly 80% of the time and most pitchers return to their old form or better.

Gone at 83

Tommy John passed away August 15, 2026, at his home in Florida, surrounded by his wife, Cheryl, and other family members. He'd been in hospice care after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in recent years.

His Real Hall of Fame

Tommy John never made the Hall of Fame. He didn't need to. Every time a pitcher tears his elbow and comes back throwing harder than before, that's Tommy John's real plaque — one written in every training room in professional baseball.