DR HQ: Anatomy 101—Tommy John Surgery

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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