Trivia Time: Best Reconstructed Elbow of All Time
Who holds the all-time record for most career wins by a pitcher after undergoing “Tommy-John” elbow reconstruction surgery?
Answer after the jump…
David Wells holds the all-time record, with 234 wins post-Tommy John surgery and still counting. Amazingly, Tommy John himself, the first to ever have the surgery, still remains in second place, with 164 victories after the procedure, but he is sure to be passed someday soon, now that practically every other pitcher in the game has the surgery…
September 6th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I’m gonna go with … umm… Tommy John!
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September 7th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Kerry Wood… just a guess… I\’m not even sure if he had the procedure…
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September 7th, 2007 at 2:43 am
That is a good guess, Coley! Actually, Tommy John is still in second place, even after all these years! But there is still one man ahead of him…
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September 7th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Ummmm. John Smoltz?
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September 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Smoltz is too obvious. Can’t be him. Maybe John Lieber?
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September 7th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Tommy John played for something like 15 more years after he had his surgery. Seeing as the guy won close to 300 games in his career, we must be talking something like over 150 wins AFTER the procedure at least. So basically, we’re talking about someone who had it done at least 10-12 years ago if not far more. It’s probably someone who had it done early in his career. I know that Mo Rivera had it done in the minors, but obviously he doesn’t have that many wins.
I’m stumped.
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September 7th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Kason Gabbard had it in the minors, too, I believe, but it’s obviously not him….as much as Nick wishes it were!
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September 7th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Hmmmm….too obvious, eh Ward? What about someone not as obvious…like….David Wells. He’s had surgery on every joint in his body. It could be him.
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September 7th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Wells never had Tommy John surgery.
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September 7th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
What about Kenny Rogers? I hear his name among the list of guys who have had it, but I don’t remember hearing about it when it happened, which makes me think it was before I really started paying attention to baseball.
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September 7th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Sorry, Coley. I brought my A-Game to UmpBump today. Looking for something with which to prove you wrong, I may have found our trivia answer.
Now, I will have to wait for Nick (who is now on Japan time) to tell us whether this still holds, but in 2002, USA Today reported:
“[Tommy John's] 164 post-surgery victories remained unsurpassed until last year, when David Wells eclipsed it. (Wells had the surgery in his early 20s, as a minor leaguer.)”
Yes, write it down: Sarah Green has won her first UmpBump trivia question EVAH.
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September 7th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
But Sarah, Wikipedia does not list David Wells among the players who have had Tommy John surgery. Could Wikipedia possibly be wrong?
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September 7th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
My God, Coley. Wikipedia! Wrong?! Say it ain’t so!
Wikipedia, have you no decency? At long last, HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, SIR?
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September 10th, 2007 at 12:12 am
It’s Wells. But I’m not sure you can get full credit if you just Google up the answer though, Sarah… I mean, pretty much any of these questions are answerable by Googling!
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September 10th, 2007 at 9:08 am
I guessed it before I googled! But then when Coley said he hadn’t had the surgery, I had to check, didn’t I? Come on!
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September 11th, 2007 at 2:20 am
Okay, okay, in light of your sworn affidavit and especially your allusion to the Army-McCarthy Hearings, I have decided to award you full credit!
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