Tommy John, namesake for a pioneering elbow surgery that saved his career, dead at 83

The left-handed MLB pitcher was 31 years old when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow in 1974, an injury that had been a death knell for pitchers' careers up to that point.

Tommy John, who won 288 games during a 26-year big league career and became the first pitcher to successfully return following groundbreaking elbow surgery that later was named after him, has died. He was 83.