Baseball Legend Passes

Pitching in Major League Baseball is quite the accomplishment. Being able to reach that level as a pitcher means you are one of the very elite to be able to do that. Tommy John was one of those pitchers. He was able to win 288 career games and had an altering surgery that not only extended his career but bears his name. The pitching legend passed away over the weekend at the age of 84.

Tommy spent 26 years as a major league pitcher, a career that began in 1963 and ended in 1989, save for a year in 1975 when he had the surgery which currently bears his name. Hit pitched for Cleveland for two seasons, Chicago White Sox for seven years, six years with the Dodgers (one year was missed because of his surgery), eight years with the Yankees, four with the California Angels and one year with the Oakland A's. His career saw him start 700 games, winning 288 of them. He was able to strike out 2,245 hitters, had 162 career complete games and finished with a 3.34 lifetime ERA.

The numbers themselves were solid for the career that he had over 26 seasons. The numbers unfortunately weren't good enough to put him into the Hall of Fame, but they are still nothing to be ashamed of. He will forever be remembered for having the groundbreaking elbow surgery that to this day bears his name. It was able to extend his career by another 14 seasons and allowed him to rack up another 164 wins after having said procedure. Being able to have that comeback in 1976, and continued playing until he finally retired in 1989, proved that once and for all that baseball players could still be successful after undergoing major surgery. That was, and forever will be, his lasting impact. And not just his impact on the game of baseball, but on sports as a whole.

It proved to the sports world that any athlete could have undergone a major surgery and still be able to come back and have a fantastic career. And what he did for the game of baseball had extended countless number of careers because of what the surgery did for him and the pitching arm. Had this procedure been done before Tommy had it, who knows how many more careers it could have saved. A guy like Sandy Kofax immediately comes to mind. Kofax had arm issues right at the end of his career. If Tommy John Surgery had been a thing when Kofax as having his issues, it could have fixed the problem, and he probably could have kept pitching another five to ten years and had way higher win totals.

That's a lasting impact on the game that goes far beyond any pitch he ever threw!