...saving procedure a shot was Brent Strom, who played for five full seasons before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 1977. His was not a success however and Strom never pitched another game in Major League Baseball. The 1980’s produced the next two notable pitchers to undergo Tommy John’s in Tom Candiotti and David Wells each of which had the surgery in their early twenties and were even better after the procedure than they were before. Candiotti, who switched to the knuckleball after the operation, posted the third most post-surgery wins of a Tommy John patient behind John himself and Wells, the latter of which had the most with 239. Wells went on to throw one of two post-Tommy John perfect games and is considered to have one of the most successful careers after his surgery. The early 90’s gave us two men – Darren Dreifort and Jose Rijo – whose post-surgery careers were a bust. These two had very promising careers before their elbow injuries, but their careers ended in disappointment after they were unable to reproduce their pre-surgery numbers after going under the knife. The first Tommy John’s patient to go into the Hall of Fame will be John Smoltz this next year in 2015. He was an impressive starting pitcher before his surgery, winning the Cy Young award in 1996 and after his operation in 2000 he became the game’s most dominant closer for three seasons posting 144 saves. He returned to the starting rotation to end his career and with 213 wins, 144 saves, and 3084 strikeouts...
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