What is the surgery to have as a competitive baseball pitcher? The Tommy John surgery. A surgery so specific to a playing position has never been more common in baseball than it is today. The injury that occurs in many baseball pitchers is a tear in the elbow, which is caused by a rupture of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). Ever since the first UCL surgery in 1974, when Dr. Frank Jobe operated on Dodgers’ pitcher Tommy John, the most effective and efficient method to fix this injury has been...