Dr. Frank Jobe to be honored in Cooperstown Hall of Fame weekend

Dr. Frank Jobe, who pioneered the procedure now known as Tommy John surgery, will be honored in Cooperstown as part of Hall of Fame weekend on July 27, for having a significant effect on baseball culture.

John ruptured his medial collateral ligament in 1974 while pitching for the Dodgers, an injury which up until that point had ended pitching careers. Jobe developed the surgical procedure to remove a tendon from John's forearm to repair his elbow. The procedure has since been performed on hundreds of players, including current Dodgers Chris Capuano and Carl Crawford.

John, who pitched 14 more seasons and won 164 games after the surgery, will be present at the ceremony to honor Jobe.

"The ground-breaking work of Dr. Frank Jobe to conceptualize, develop, refine and make mainstream Tommy John Surgery, a complex elbow procedure that has furthered the careers of hundreds of ballplayers, is a testament to the positive role of medicine in our game’s growth," said Jeff Idelson, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Notes

• Pitcher Ted Lilly, who was scratched from his bullpen session on Thursday with an illness, played catch on Friday, but it is yet unknown whether or not he will make his scheduled start on Sunday.
• Zack Greinke played catch from about 75 feet on Friday, his first time throwing a baseball since last Friday. With a bullpen session coming for Greinke no sooner than next week, he likely only has two spring starts remaining, which makes him likely to open the season on the disabled list.
  
  Though manager Don Mattingly said he might not wait until Apr. 13, the first date the Dodgers would need a fifth starter, if Greinke is ready earlier. "As soon as Zack is ready to go again, we'll get him back in there," Mattingly said.
  
• Carl Crawford will take at least six at-bats in a minor league game at Camelback Ranch, then resume throwing, as he did on Thursday.
• Nick Punto returned to Dodgers camp on Friday, two days after Team Italy was eliminated in the second round of the World Baseball Classic. Mattingly said he'd give Punto a day to get back into camp to participate in workouts, as he did with Luis Cruz, Adrian Gonzalez, and Ronald Belisario. Punto is expected to play for the Dodgers on Saturday in Surprise against the Rangers.
  
• Aaron Harang starts for the Dodgers and will be followed on the mound by Shawn Tolleson and Juan Abreu. Other pitchers suited up from the minor league side include right-hander Hector Nelo and southpaws Rob Rasmussen and Fabio Castro. Rasmussen, who pitched at UCLA, was acquired from the Astros in December for John Ely.
• Other players from the minor league side for the Dodgers in Peoria are infielders Corey Seager, Scott Van Slyke, Ozzie Martinez, Rafael Ynoa, and C.J. Retherford; and outfielders Matt Angle and Jeremy Rathjen.
• Andrew Cashner starts for the Padres on Friday, and will be followed by Anthony Bass, Arturo Lopez, Daniel Stange, and Matt Stites.
  

Game info

Time: 1:05 p.m. PT

TV: none

Radio: MLB.com (Padres broadcast)

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