00:00Just over a week ago, Tommy John wasn't able to be at Yankee Stadium for Old Timers Day, but he
00:05made sure that his words were.
00:07The former Yankees left-hander sent a letter to the organization thanking the Steinbrenner family, his former teammates, and the
00:13fans, and perhaps most significantly, saying goodbye.
00:16Now, those words carry even more weight. Tommy John has died at the age of 83.
00:21His agent says John passed away at his home in Florida, surrounded by his wife and family.
00:27John's baseball story is, of course, one of the most unique in the history of the sport.
00:31He pitched for 26 Major League seasons, won 288 games, and was a four-time All-Star.
00:36He spent parts of eight seasons with the Yankees over two different stints, winning more than 20 games in each
00:42of his first two years in the Bronx,
00:44and finishing second in the American League in Cy Young voting in 1979.
00:49But his name became bigger than his numbers.
00:51In 1974, John tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.
00:56Dr. Frank Jobe performed a then-experimental reconstruction of that ligament.
01:00John missed a 1975 season, then came back and won another 164 Major League games, more than half of his
01:08career total.
01:09The procedure would eventually become known simply as Tommy John surgery, and generations of pitchers have since undergone it.
01:15And that was something John himself reflected on in his final message to Yankees fans.
01:20He wrote thanks to Dr. Jobe, who saved my arm and made it possible for me to continue pitching,
01:25and then added that the surgery had gone on to save the careers of countless pitchers.
01:29But maybe the most powerful part of that letter came at the end,
01:32and then John finished his message to the fans saying simply,
01:36I will never forget you.
01:38Baseball, however, will remember Tommy John as something more.
01:41A great pitcher, a Yankee, and a man whose name became forever connected to countless second chances on a baseball
01:48mound.
01:51A great pitcher by Benè°· Kismina, who created a game of statisticalsize official
01:51You
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