Welcome to TOMMY JOHN #25

•  Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "The Bionic Man," is an American retired professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, California Angels, and Oakland Athletics. He was a four-time MLB All-Star and has the third-most wins (288) of any pitcher since 1900 not in the Hall of Fame. Known for his longevity, John was the Opening Day starter six times – three for the White Sox (1966, 1970, and 1971) and three times for the Yankees (1981, 1982,and 1989). Tommy Has The Tommy John Surgery named after him. 

 UCL reconstruction is a surgery commonly used to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament inside the elbow by replacing it with a tendon from elsewhere in the body. The goal of the surgery is to stabilize the elbow, reduce or eliminate pain and restore stability and range of motion. This procedure was introduced and first performed by Frank Jobe, M.D., on baseball pitcher Tommy John in 1974—hence the colloquial name Tommy John surgery

The late, great Chicago
and syndicated columnist Sidney J. Harris had a regular feature called, "Things I learned on my way to looking up other things." This is one of those things.
There's a guy who played for the Sox in the minors and also shot a little hoops who's more famous — but no one who made it to the show is more famous than Tommy John.  If you doubt that, just consult the ultimate authority in all things: the web. Google "Tommy John" and you get 323 million hits. Yep, 323 million. Babe Ruth gets 34 million, Mike Trout 29, Hank Aaron 22, even Yankee heartthrob Derek Jeter 15. Lou Gehrig, with a whole disease named after him, 7.5. Among pitchers, there are totals like 8.1 for Clayton Kershaw, 3.8 for Justin Verlander, 1 for Bob Feller, and 1.7 for the top pitcher of John's era, Tom Seaver. The only player even remotely close is Cy Young at 185 million, and that's because he has a major award named for him.