Mark Bennett: Remnant of historic surgery -- Tommy John's cast -- enshrined in Smithsonian

Jun. 11—The autographs seemed more significant to Tommy John than the plaster cast that encased his surgically repaired pitching elbow in 1974.

"It was wrapped in two big, black plastic bags," said John. He stored the bundled cast in his attic to keep the sun from fading the ink signatures of his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates who signed it, "because that was a good team."

As for the hunk of plaster that helped revolutionize sports medicine history?

"Why I kept it, I have no idea," he said Thursday by phone. "I'm not really a person that thinks of that down the road."

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., pays attention to such things. Thus, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History said yes when John offered to donate it. The 79-year-old Terre Haute native, who pitched 288 victories in 26 major-league baseball seasons from 1963 to 1989, formally contributed the cast in a June 3 ceremony at the museum.

"It was quite nice," John said of the event. He'd never been to the Smithsonian before.

Of course, long-time fans and residents of his hometown long to see John travel to Cooperstown, N.Y., for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, too. That hasn't happened yet, but recent developments make that prospect more promising.

Several of the Dodgers greats whose autographs grace John's cast are already enshrined in the Hall — Pee Wee Reese, Don Sutton, Tommy Lasorda and Walter Alston. The signatures add a fascination to the cast. But it packs significance beyond those etched names. That's why the saw-sliced device will become part of the Smithsonian museum's entertainment and sports history collections.

Dodgers team physician Dr. Frank Jobe put the cast on John's left arm in the wake of a landmark surgery performed on Sept. 25, 1974. Since then, more than 2,100 ballplayers from youth leagues to the majors have undergone what's become known as "Tommy John surgery," according to Major League Baseball.

"It makes me feel good that I did something that could help other people, and that Dr. Jobe got recognized for his work," John said.

Jobe undertook an unprecedented, four-hour surgery to replace the torn ulnar collateral ligament in John's throwing arm with a tendon taken from the pitcher's right arm. The procedure had never been attempted. Jobe proposed it as a way to save John's career, after he'd torn the ligament earlier that summer while pitching against the Montreal Expos on July 17.

Until that surgery, the same tinge of pain John felt had ended the careers of many pitchers before.

With the surgery, Jobe gave John a 1-in-10 chance of ever pitching again, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame archives. The doctor asked John, "Do you have other means to support your family?" John informed Jobe that he could sell cars at a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership owned by his friend, Bob McClelland, back in Terre Haute.

"And I would've done it," John said Thursday.

That wasn't necessary. Jobe's idea worked, though John's recovery took awhile. They had no clue how long it would take.

Jobe developed a rehab regimen in real time, and John followed it. John insists he "never ever ever" had a doubt it would work. "I said, 'Dr. Jobe, if you do your job, I will more than do my job,'" John recalled. "I said I'd keep working if it took a year, if it took two years, if it took three years. After that, I might have to think of doing something else."

He missed the rest of the 1974 season, of course, as well as the entire 1975 season.

In the meantime, John resumed throwing by tossing a ball to his first wife in the backyard of their Yorba Linda, California, home. "The reason I threw to her is because I would not be inclined to throw hard," John explained. Eventually, he was throwing six days a week. ("If the Lord rested on Sunday, Tommy John can, too," he reasoned.) He pitched in the Arizona instructional league late in the 1975 season, and finished by starting seven games in 28 days.

John returned to the big leagues in April 1976. He won 164 games after the surgery, never missing start in that stretch from age 32 to 46 and recording three 20-win seasons. John pitched masterfully for so long that he spent his final four seasons in the starting rotation for the New York Yankees and owner George Steinbrenner, who never tolerated hangers-on. He retired 12 victories shy of the magic 300-career-wins mark, a plateau that almost guarantees Hall of Fame induction.

His stats contain plenty of arguments for induction. A sparkling 2.65 earned-run average in playoff and World Series appearances. The seventh-most career victories by a lefty. Forty-six shutouts; every pitcher (except Luis Tiant) with more is in the Hall.

And then there's a little-known statistic unearthed by famed baseball historian Bill James. In 24 of John's starts, he left the game with his team leading, only to have relief pitchers then blow that lead. Only one other pitcher experienced that misfortune more times: Roger Clemens. If John's relievers had saved the lead in just half of those games, he'd had 300 wins.

Still, Hall of Fame voters — both the mainline writers, managers, umps and executives group and the Era (formerly Veterans) Committee — have bypassed John. But the voters selected a pitcher for its Class of 2022 with statistics similar to John's — fellow lefty Jim Kaat.

"My numbers are better than his," John said of Kaat.

He's right, aside from Kaat's 16 Gold Glove Awards. Kaat won 283 games, John 288. Kaat's lifetime ERA was 3.45, John's was 3.34. Kaat was a three-time All-Star, John played in four All-Star games.

Though he's still rehabilitating from a crippling bout of COVID-19, John will attend the July 24 Hall of Fame ceremony, when Kaat and six other players will be inducted. Today, John — who now lives in Sarasota, Florida, with his wife, Cheryl — seems to accept the situation with his own Cooperstown candidacy.

"When I signed my first contract and I was leaving for that beautiful resort city of Dubuque, Iowa, and my dad said, 'Remember who you are and where you came from — Tommy John from Terre Haute, Indiana,'" John said. "And whether I go into the Hall of Fame or not, I'll still be Tommy John from Terre Haute, Indiana."

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.