Tommy John’s Legacy Lives On | Salt Lake City News

Salt Lake City News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Aug 17, 2026 · 1m

Tommy John, the baseball legend whose name forever changed sports medicine, has died at 83. A 26-season pitcher with over 200 wins and four All-Star nods, he became the first MLB player to survive an experimental elbow surgery—now known worldwide as “Tommy John surgery”—when doctors gave him just a 1% chance of recovery. Not only did he return to pitch for another 15 seasons, winning more games post-op than pre-op, but his courage paved the way for thousands of athletes, including stars like Shohei Ohtani. His legacy lives on in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and in every pitcher who got a…