Ex-MLB pitcher Tommy John, namesake of pioneering surgery, diesESPN News ServicesMultiple AuthorsAug 16, 2026, 01:56 PM ET
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Former major league pitcher Tommy John, a four-time All-Star who won 288 career games and the namesake behind the pioneering elbow surgery that prolonged his career for 14 more years, died Saturday at the age of 83.
John died at his home in Bradenton, Florida, the New York Yankees mentioned in a statement Sunday. A cause of death was not given, but he had been in hospice and had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and other ailments in recent years.
“The New York Yankees mourn the passing of Tommy John, who was a bedrock of our rotation during his time in pinstripes and a longtime favorite of Yankees fans,” the team mentioned in its statement. “While his incredible longevity and post-surgery achievements changed the fortunes and trajectory of countless athletes around the world, it also overshadowed his excellence as a pitcher, which included consecutive 20 win seasons with the Yankees.
“We pause to remember the totality of his legacy — his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer. The Yankees extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”
John shared a vague message about his health after missing the Yankees’ Old-Timers Day on Aug. 8, saying that he wanted to say goodbye to everyone, along with all the friends and fans who followed him throughout his 26-year career.
“I will never forget you,” John mentioned in his message posted to social media.
At age 31, Dodgers pitcher Tommy John underwent revolutionary elbow ligament reconstruction surgery — later called Tommy John surgery — in 1974. He returned and pitched 14 more seasons for the Dodgers, Yankees (twice) and Angels, winning 164 more games. Focus on Sport/Getty ImagesAfter suffering what had been up to then considered a career-ending injury, John, then 31, underwent ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery on his left (pitching) elbow in 1974, with the revolutionary procedure being performed by Dr. Frank Jobe. The procedure was named after John and has since become commonplace, performed on thousands of players — not just pitchers — with a typical recovery time of a year to 18 months.John, nicknamed “The Bionic Man,” went on to pitch for 14 more seasons after the surgery.John had 124 wins in 355 games at the time of the procedure. He pitched in 405 more games, winning 164, and finished with a career record of 288-231 — the second-most wins of any pitcher since 1900 not to be elected to the Hall of Fame — with a 3.34 ERA and 2,245 strikeouts in 760 career appearances.Besides eight seasons with the Yankees, for whom he won 91 games over two separate stints, John pitched for the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels, Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics during his career.
“Thanks to Dr. Jobe, who saved my arm & made it possible for me to continue pitching,” John mentioned in his post Aug. 8. “That surgery has since gone on to save the careers of countless pitchers, including many of the very best in the game today.”
Some of those “very best” who are currently pitching include Shohei Ohtani, Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Chris Sale and Jacob deGrom (twice).
“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, mentioned 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.”
Jobe, who died in 2014, once told ESPN that he estimated that the odds of success for John’s surgery were one in a hundred. These days, approximately 80% of pitchers return to their previous level of success or higher, according to highly renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who is the lead physician for the Dodgers.”He realized that the options were to go back to Terre Haute, Indiana, or to have the operation, with a high risk of failure,” Jobe told ESPN in 2003.During the four-hour surgery on Sept. 25, 1974, Jobe made holes in the humerus and ulna bones of John’s left arm and used anchors to insert the tendon in a figure-eight pattern.At first, John’s left hand was shriveled and he lacked feeling in several of his fingers because of damage to the ulnar nerve. Jobe performed a second procedure to reroute the nerve that was necessary to John’s full recovery.John’s arm was in a cast for four months. He had recovered the full range of motion in his left arm by spring training of 1975, and spent that season resting, healing and rebuilding strength in his arm. John worked with fellow Dodgers pitcher Mike Marshall, who had a doctorate in kinesiology, on learning a different grip.”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,” ElAttrache told The Associated Press in 2024.In 2024, the American Medical Association estimated that roughly 35% of active major league pitchers had Tommy John surgery at some point in their career.Drafted by Cleveland in 1961 at the age of 18, John first pitched in the majors in 1963. After being traded to the White Sox in 1965, John got his first All-Star nod in 1968, when he finished fifth in the American League with a 1.98 ERA. Four seasons later, he was traded to the Dodgers and led the National League in winning percentage in 1973 and 1974, when he suffered the UCL injury.John reached the World Series three times during his career — twice with the Dodgers (1977, ’78) and once with the Yankees (1981) — and compiled a 2.67 ERA in 33⅔ innings, but he never won a championship, losing, ironically, to the Dodgers or Yankees on all three occasions.He won 20 games in a season on three occasions — going 20-7 with the Dodgers in 1977, 21-9 with the Yankees in 1979 and 22-9 with the Yankees in 1980. John was named to the All-Star Game in three consecutive seasons from 1978 to 1980, compiling a 60-28 mark with a 3.22 ERA over 754⅔ innings over that span.More proof of his longevity: He was the Opening Day starter for both the 1966 White Sox and the 1989 Yankees.John and Jobe were honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013 for their contributions to the sport.From 1995 through 2009, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he never received more than 31.7% of the votes, falling well short of the 75% required for election.John donated the original cast from his surgery to the Smithsonian Institution in June 2022. His teammates on the 1974 Dodgers signed it, as well as Jobe and the team’s Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully.Born Thomas Edward John Jr. on May 22, 1943, in Terre Haute, Indiana, he was a top baseball and basketball player at the city’s Gerstmeyer High. He graduated in 1961 as valedictorian but did not give the commencement speech because of a stutter. Despite being recruited by the University of Kentucky to play basketball, John chose baseball and signed with Cleveland.”The day I left for my first job as a pitcher, my father looked at me & mentioned, ‘Good luck, Tommy. Just remember one thing: whether you make it big in the big leagues or you don’t, you’ll always just be Tommy John from Terre Haute, Indiana.’ I’ve never forgotten those words,” John wrote in his Aug. 8 post.John’s oldest son, Tommy III, became a chiropractor who wrote a book suggesting ways to prevent young athletes from having to undergo major sports-related surgery similar to what his father endured.After his pitching career ended, John worked as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins and Yankees in the 1990s. He managed the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Bluefish from 2007-09.
John was hospitalized in December 2020 due to 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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