Tommy John considers himself "a pitcher that had surgery in '74 [at 31 years old] and pitched until he was 46," not a medical pioneer. There are approximately 100 major league pitchers - and one NFL quarterback - who have undergone successful Tommy John surgery who might disagree.
When Dr. Frank Jobe reconstructed John's left ulnar collateral ligament with a forearm tendon, it was a medical first. It was also the only medical option available to John, if he wanted to continue his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before John underwent his eponymous surgery, a torn ulnar collateral ligament caused permanent instability in the elbow and ended careers. Like John, the surgery has stood the test of time, demonstrating how professional athletes can push sports medicine forward and save careers.
But when John and Jobe discussed the potentially career-saving surgery, the doctor gave low odds for success. The way Jobe figured it, John would have a 1 to 10 percent chance of returning to a major league mound. To John, 1 percent was better than early retirement.
"I asked [Dr. Jobe], 'What are we waiting for?' " said John. "He looked at me and he laughed. He said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'We should have been doing this thing 10 minutes ago. I want to try and play again. If you do your job, I'll more than do mine. If it takes a year, it's a year. If it takes two, it will be two. If it takes three, it will be three. But I plan on coming back from this surgery.'
"He said, 'Well, don't be so Pollyanna-ish because chances are you won't.' I told him, 'At the end of one year, I'll be pitching again.' He said, 'At the end of one year, if you can throw the ball from the mound to home plate with anything on it, it'll be great.' "
One year and one day after surgery, John was pitching an instructional league game in Arizona. He started seven instructional league games in 28 days during the fall of 1975, but it wasn't until after the 1976 All-Star break that he again felt truly comfortable on a major league mound. In the 13 seasons he was a starter post-surgery, John never missed his turn in the rotation, made three All-Star appearances and participated in six World Series games. Over a 26-year career, John pitched 4,710 1/3 regular-season innings (2,544 2/3 after the surgery) and posted a 3.34 ERA.
But his greatest legacy will be the continued success of Tommy John surgery.
Managing the Bridgeport (Conn.) Bluefish this past season, John learned he had eight players (six pitchers) who had had Tommy John surgery.
When asked if that statistic concerned him, John said, "No, they told me they had Tommy John surgery and I said, 'Good, then I know I can pitch your [butts] off.' "
Today, the success rate for Tommy John surgery is about 85 percent, with pitchers following a rehabilitation timeline not all that different from the one John used during 1975. John believes successful recovery from the surgery depends upon pitchers giving their arms proper time to heal. But when John began his rehab, the proper recovery time was unknown. Once again, he found himself in uncharted medical territory.
For several months after the surgery, John, Jobe, and other members of the Dodgers medical staff used trial and error to guide the rehab. John spent two weeks in a cast, then 14 weeks in various splints where he was allowed to test the arm within a limited range of motion. As soon as he was splint-free, John started throwing.
"We just winged it," said John. "It was, 'Let's do biceps. Let's do triceps. Let's do forearms.' We would introduce different muscle groups every week. There was never pain, just soreness."
On a sweltering mid-July night in Pittsburgh 1975, John first knew he would have a successful comeback from surgery. After throwing in the bullpen for 45 minutes, John felt he finally had tossed balls "with some pop." He pitched 15 minutes of batting practice the next night in St. Louis, and the ball "had a little more life to it.
"That was when we could start going ahead. I had to convince myself that I could throw and there wouldn't be any repercussions of throwing hard. It was the same [mental process] when I had bone chips removed [after the '72 season]. No one can tell you that you're ready to pitch again, except you. So, you've got to get it into your head that you're ready to pitch.' "
John wasn't the only person concerned about how his left arm would handle the rigors of major league pitching.
"After he was able to pitch, each game he pitched, I sat on my hands worried that it was going to blow out again," said Jobe. "But it didn't. Then, the year went by and he did very well . . . I didn't think of [Tommy John surgery] as that great until maybe 10 or 15 years later, when I realized we've got a lot of players with that operation now."
At 64, John continues to pitch, throwing batting practice for the Bluefish every day during the summer. And he happily reports no aches or pain in his arm.
