Tommy John, legendary pitcher for the Yankees, White Sox and Dodgers, dead at 83

Tommy John, famous for both a brilliant career as a Major League pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees, has died at the age of 83. 

John won 288 games over 26 seasons, but his name lives on mostly for a type of surgery he had to repair his left elbow when he tore a ligament during the 1974 season with the Dodgers. In the first of its kind surgery, team physician Dr. Frank Jobe replaced the torn ulnar collateral ligament, according to the New York Post. 

John then sat out the 1975 and then returned the following season in top form, finishing second in the vote for the National League Cy Young award in 1977. He became known as “the bionic man.” 

The only pitcher to have more career wins than John in baseball’s Modern Era, who is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, is Roger Clemens, whose career was plagued by scandal. 

John started 700 games in his career, the eighth-most in MLB history.  

Tommy John had been in hospice care at his home in Bradenton, Florida. 

On August 8 of this year, on Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, Tommy John released a statement through the Yankees in which he said “goodbye to everyone” amid his terminal health struggles. 

“I want to thank the Yankees organization [and] the Steinbrenner family for giving me this opportunity to say goodbye to everyone, along with all the friends [and] fans who followed me throughout my 26-year career.”