... the fans here talk about, ‘Do you remember when …?’ That’s baseball. To me baseball is ‘Do you remember when …?’ And that’s why the Hall of Fame here is outstanding because it’s entirely ‘Do you remember when …?
Tommy John visits Hall of Fame
The groundball pitcher famously tore a ligament in his left elbow and missed the entire 1975 season due to the ligament replacement surgery performed by Dodgers team surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe. In John’s case, the revolutionary surgery replaced his left elbow ligament with a ligament taken from his right forearm.
“My whole thing about Tommy John surgery is you can’t rush it,” John explained. “And I think that’s what happens to these kids. They want to get out there in nine months, 10 months, but I ask them what difference does it make if you are back in 12 months or 15 months or 18 months? The whole thing is when you come back you don’t go down again. And you pitch for as long as your ability will let you pitch. But if you come back early you may have to have the surgery a second or third time.”
John, a four-time All-Star, finished his impressive 26-year big league career in 1989, split mostly between the White Sox, Dodgers and Yankees, with a 288-231 record, which included three 20-win seasons and 17 seasons with at least 10 wins, and 700 games started. He was 31 years old when he severely injured his elbow in 1974, but came back to get 164 of his 288 career wins after the surgery and pitched to the age of 46.
The Hall of Fame honored Dr. Jobe during its 2013 Induction Weekend, an event in which his most famous patient, John, attended.
“They told me I had four minutes to introduce Dr. Jobe and I said I can’t get my name out in four minutes,” John joked. “But I firmly believe this, that there are three men that changed the face of baseball as we know it: Babe Ruth, Marvin Miller and Dr. Frank Jobe. Baseball will forever be changed because of those three men.”
My whole thing about Tommy John surgery is you can’t rush it. And I think that’s what happens to these kids. They want to get out there in nine months, 10 months, but I ask them what difference does it make if you are back in 12 months or 15 months or 18 months? The whole thing is when you come back you don’t go down again. And you pitch for as long as your ability will let you pitch. But if you come back early you may have to have the surgery a second or third time.
But what are John’s thoughts about being forever linked to a medical procedure and having his baseball accomplishments possibly overshadowed?
“I think a lot of people think of me as the surgeon,” John said with a laugh. “I’m honored, seriously, that this surgery changed the face of baseball as we know it. I’m honored to have my name put on it. A lot of people think it should be called Frank Jobe surgery, but Dr. Jobe said, ‘No, I just did the surgery. He did all the rest.’
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