Major League Baseball

Game changer: Gratitude, praise pour in for Dr. Frank Jobe

Published Mar. 6, 2014 10:51 p.m. ET

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Outpourings of gratitude and remembrance flowed from the Twitterverse on Thursday with news of the passing of Dr. Frank Jobe, a surgeon who performed the first "Tommy John surgery," a procedure that has resurrected hundreds of pitchers' careers over nearly 40 years.

As his LA Times obituary noted, Jobe has been described as "a founding father of sports medicine," and the Tommy John procedure is considered "the most extraordinary medical advance in baseball history."

Jobe died this morning in Santa Monica, Calif. at the age of 88, his family announced. He had served the Dodgers' organization for 50 years, most recently as special adviser to the chairman.

Jobe also was honored at Cooperstown on July 27, 2013 as part of the Hall of Fame awards presentation for his development of the revolutionary surgery.

Tommy John, the Dodgers pitcher who on Sept. 24, 1974 had a tendon removed from his forearm to repair his elbow in the first-of-its-kind procedure for a pitcher, described Jobe as "a great surgeon but a better person."

Many others went to Twitter to give thanks to Jobe:

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