DR HQ: Anatomy 101—Tommy John Surgery

The Big Hurt

Rick Wilton

Aug 15 2013 2:04am

DR HQ: Anatomy 101—Tommy John Surgery

Rick Wilton

Aug 15 2013

The most important sports medicine event in baseball history occurred in 1974. Dr. Frank Jobe completed the first ligament replacement procedure on left-handed pitcher Tommy John. It was reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in John’s elbow, which had torn in 1974. Up until then, a pitcher with a torn UCL usually saw his career end with that news. Dr. Jobe believed he could take an unessential tendon (palmaris longus) from John’s non-throwing arm’s wrist, replace the torn UCL in the left elbow with it, and—with a rigorous rehab—Tommy John could pitch again. In 1976, John was reborn as a pitcher, and ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery would bear his name from then on.

The UCL
The ulnar collateral ligament...

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