Tommy John
American · 83 years old · Died 15 August 2026
MLB pitcher who gave his name to the most common surgery in baseball
Cause of death
Bladder cancer
Tommy John pitched in Major League Baseball for 26 seasons — one of the longest careers in the sport's history. But he is remembered less for his 288 career wins than for the surgery named after him. In 1974, he became the first athlete to undergo ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, a procedure performed by Dr. Frank Jobe. The surgery saved his career — and since then has saved the careers of hundreds of pitchers at every level of baseball. "Tommy John surgery" is now the most commonly performed procedure in professional baseball. He died at 83 from bladder cancer.
How common is cancer (all types)?
Tommy John died of bladder cancer. Globally, cancer (all types) kills 10,000,000 people every year — that is 27,397 per day, or roughly one person every 3 seconds. It accounts for 16% of all deaths worldwide.
Deaths / year
10,000,000
Deaths / day
27,397
Deaths / hour
1,142
Deaths / second
0.32
Share of all global deaths
Risk factors for cancer (all types)
Since Tommy John died
Live count since 15 August 2026
Total deaths worldwide since then
---
Deaths from same cause since then
---