Tommy John in action with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976 Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

Former MLB pitcher Tommy John reminisces on infamous surgery

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 9/25/24

It's so common in modern baseball to hear of a pitcher having Tommy John surgery that it can be easy to forget the procedure is named after an actual person.

That made it a bit more fun when the man himself went on Dan Patrick's podcast this week to discuss the surgery he had that would eventually be named after him.

"I'm not the one who named it Tommy John surgery, Dr. [Frank] Jobe did. So he kind of stuck me with that," former MLB pitcher Tommy John said with a laugh.

Former #MLB pitcher Tommy John discusses having the surgery named after him and being the first to ever have it done. pic.twitter.com/xhVIsHK4Ui
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 25, 2024

John, 81, went on to tell Patrick how he found himself forever associated with a revolutionary procedure that didn't have a proper name at the time he underwent it on Sept. 25, 1974, when he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"The name of the surgery was ulnar collateral ligament replacement with a palmaris longus tendon," John explained amid Patrick's chuckles. "When they got through and I survived, Dr. Jobe went out as most orthopedics do and talked to other doctors, and he said 'I just got tired of saying that, it's such a long, drawn out name.'"

Regardless of the name, the procedure itself has become a successful one. The American Medical Association reports that more than 1,000 pitchers have had the surgery to reconstruct the tendon in their pitching elbow.

As for John himself, he went on to pitch for 14 more seasons after having the surgery before retiring in 1989.

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