Dodgers’ Dr. Frank Jobe in good health after minor heart procedure

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Good news for a great guy:

Dr. Frank Jobe said he is in good health after having a small defibrillator implanted in his chest.

‘I was just in the pool for an hour,’ Jobe said.

Jobe served as the Dodgers’ orthopedic physician beginning in 1964. For the last three seasons he has been a special advisor to team owner Frank McCourt.

Jobe, 84, is best known as the surgeon who created the Tommy John procedure. In that operation, a tendon is removed from one arm to reconstruct an elbow ligament in the other. It has saved the careers of thousands of pitchers, players and other athletes.

Jobe said he had the defibrillator implanted almost two weeks ago. The device shocks the heart into beating if it suffers sudden cardiac arrest.

‘It’s only about the size of a half dollar,’’ Jobe said.

Jobe performed the first Tommy John procedure 36 years ago. And as I wrote earlier, he deserves a place in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

-- Steve Dilbeck