LOS ANGELES (AP) Dr. Frank Jobe, a pioneering orthopedic surgeon who was the first to perform an elbow procedure that became known as Tommy John surgery and saved the careers of countless major league pitchers, died Thursday. He was 88.

Jobe died in Santa Monica after being hospitalized recently with an undisclosed illness, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jobe performed groundbreaking elbow surgery on John, a Dodgers pitcher who had a ruptured medial collateral ligament in his left elbow. The injury previously had no solution until Jobe removed a tendon from John's forearm and repaired his elbow. John went on to pitch 14 years after the operation on Sept. 25, 1974, compiling 164 more victories without ever missing a start because of an elbow problem.

"Today I lost a GREAT friend," John tweeted.

Last year, the initial surgery and the relationship between John and Jobe was the subject of an ESPN documentary.

"When he did come back, I thought maybe we could do it on somebody else," Jobe told The Associated Press in 2010. "I waited two years to try it on somebody else, but we had no idea we could do it again."

Jobe initially estimated John's chances of returning to the majors at less than 5 percent. He later said 92 to 95 percent of patients return as good, if not better, than before the surgery.

The surgery has since become common practice for pitchers and players at every level of baseball, including New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, Washington star Stephen Strasburg, San Francisco's Tim Hudson and Minnesota's Francisco Liriano.

Some pitchers have signed multiyear contracts just months after they have the surgery in expectation of a high-level return.

Typically, full rehabilitation takes about a year for pitchers and about six months for position players. The procedure initially required four hours; now it takes about an hour.

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Sports Medicine Pioneer Frank Jobe Dies At 88