How many ballplayers owe their careers to the work of Dr. Jobe, who pioneered the medical technique we know today as “Tommy John Surgery?”
Jobe died yesterday at the age of 88. Here’s the NY Times obit by Richard Goldstein, who most recently wrote about the late Eddie O’Brien.
Theorists love to talk about how pitchers in past generations might have been able to prolong their careers had this procedure been available, perhaps no one more than Sandy Koufax.
From the obit:
The Dodgers Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax retired at 30 after the 1966 season because of an elbow injury similar to John’s.
“I’ve seen him many times in spring training and, sure, he’s brought it up,” Dr. Jobe told The Daily News of Los Angeles in 2012. “He’d say, ‘Why didn’t you do that on me?’ We simply didn’t know what to do for them back then.”
Jobe was honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in last year’s induction ceremony.
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