The Man, The Myth, The Ligament

It’s the birthday of Tommy John, born in Terre Haute, Indiana.

On July 17, 1974, John was on the mound facing down Hal Breeden of the Expos, with runners on first and second, and nobody out. With the count 1-1, the Dodgers’ pitcher wound up — and floated the ball well outside of the zone.

Something had happened, but he didn’t know what. “It felt as if I had my left arm someplace else. It was as if my body continued to go forward and my left arm had just flown out to right field, independent of the rest of me.”

After a month of ineffective home rest, multiple X-Rays, and a desperate attempt to tape his elbow during practice, John had run out of options. He went to the team surgeon, Dr. Frank Jobe, and asked him to operate.

The surgery to reconstruct the torn ulnar collateral ligament in John’s elbow was not a radically new one. A version of the procedure to repair wrists and hands was relatively common. But operating on elbows, and specifically on an elbow that would need to withstand the demands of Major League Pitching, was completely untested.

John was back with the team that Spring. While others trained, he’d slip away to focus on rehabbing from the surgery. “Day after day, for six weeks, I threw against this wall. It took on an almost symbolic aspect, representing the ‘wall’ that I was trying to break through.”

Eventually, he did. After making it back to the rotation in 1976, he’d pitch for another 13 seasons — some of the best of his career. And in doing so, he’d not only reclaim his career, but cut a path that hundreds of others would follow.

Baseball is Cinema, LA Makes the Hard Calls, Buehler Barks Back

• Batter Up – Want to do more than just watch baseball this season? It’s worth checking out some sandlot leagues in your area. Here’s a list.

• Buehler Barks Back – While Cora & Buehler were getting tossed from the Mets game on Tuesday night, Lindor cheered on the home plate umpire. Buehler got on Twitter to share a piece of his mind. Cora & Lindor had breakfast Wednesday and laughed about it.

• LA Make the Hard Calls – The Dodgers have won only 4 of their last 10 games. In the hyper-competitive NL West, there’s no room for that. And based on the recent moves made by the front office, the team knows it.

• Baseball is Cinema – The Met’s Director for SNYtv, John DeMarsico has earned a bit of a following for using the language of film to heighten the drama during game broadcasts. A recent favorite? An homage to Director Edgar Wright. You can follow him here.

5/22/2025

Clifford Curtis Sets a Record No One Wants

• 1911 — Boston’s Clifford Curtis loses his 23rd straight decision to the Cardinals. His streak had started nearly a year earlier, on June 13, 1910. It’d take him four more days to finally stop the bleeding, when he beat Brooklyn 7-2 on May 26.
  
  His record would eventually be broken by Mets pitcher Anthony Young, who lost 27 consecutive decisions between May 6, 1992 and July 24, 1993.