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St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joshua Baez certainly announced his presence in the major leagues with authority when he became the first player ever to hit three home runs in his MLB debut.

While Baez's Aug. 15 performance at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs will go down in the history books, it also serves to remind baseball fans that single-game dominance doesn't always translate into a memorable or lengthy career.

The game has seen many a rookie make a big splash in his first game or first few games, only to have a forgettable season (or career) come afterward.

What could be in store for 23-year-old Joshua Baez? Let's look at a variety of possibilities.

MAJOR LEAGUE HISTORY!!

THREE homers for Joshua Báez in his MLB debut! pic.twitter.com/aaxFwtSQku

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 15, 2026

Other impressive 2026 MLB debuts

While Baez's three-homer debut was unprecedented, it's not uncommon for players to have a great game in their first major league appearance. Just look at a couple who did so already this season.

Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers

The highly touted prospect who made the Tigers roster out of spring training has validated the team's confidence in him from the get-go. Starting at third base on opening day and batting sixth, McGonigle got four hits, (two of them doubles), scored two runs and drove in two more in five at-bats. He's now Detroit's everyday starter at shortstop and a leading contender for AL rookie of the year honors.

Chase DeLauter, Cleveland Guardians

Though it technically wasn't his first appearance in a major league uniform (after suiting up for the Guardians in the 2025 playoffs), DeLauter's first official MLB game was a memorable one. He slugged a pair of solo home runs and scored three times in going 3-for-5 on opening day in Seattle. DeLauter has battled injuries this season, as he has throughout his baseball career, but he's been an above average hitter and one of the Guardians' team leaders in Wins Above Replacement.

Tommy John, the longtime major league pitcher who was the first to undergo the eponymous surgery that revolutionized baseball, has passed away, it was announced today, having battled bladder cancer for some time. He was 83.

John was originally signed by Cleveland and pitched briefly in the majors for them before being sent to the Chicago White Sox in a three team deal. John spent six seasons with the White Sox, including three 5+ bWAR seasons from 1968-70, before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1971 season for Dick Allen.

John spent three seasons as a fixture in the Dodgers’ rotation, leading the league in winning percentage in 1973 and 1974, although a damaged UCL cut his 1974 season short. Facing an injury that was potentially career-ending, he opted to undergo an experimental surgery in September of 1974, with Dr. Frank Jobe replacing his damage UCL with a tendon from his forearm. It was the first time the surgery had been performed on a pitcher’s elbow, and when John successfully returned to action in 1976, “Tommy John surgery” entered the sport’s vernacular.

John spent 14 seasons in the majors post-surgery, finishing second in the N.L. Cy Young voting in 1977, advancing to the World Series with the Dodgers in 1978, finishing second in the A.L. Cy Young voting in 1979 in his first season with the New York Yankees, and ultimately accumulating 288 career wins. John’s 61.6 career bWAR is 58th all time among major league pitchers.

Former Yankees pitcher Tommy John passed away last night in his Florida home in Lakewood Ranch, according to a statement released by his agent Mike Maguire this morning. The news comes just eight days after he had penned a goodbye to the fans and the baseball community, published on his behalf by the New York Yankees on Old Timers’ Day, amid reports that he was in hospice care. He was 83 years old. The Yankees, the Dodgers, and Major League Baseball confirmed the news.

A native of Terre Haute, Indiana, John pitched for a remarkable 26 seasons (1963-89), including eight with the Yankees (1979-82, 1986-89); we ranked him 65th on our Top 100 Yankees countdown a few years back. He made his MLB debut with Cleveland, the team that signed him out of high school, on September 6, 1963, before being traded to the White Sox following the 1964 season. Across seven seasons on the South Side, he established himself as one of the top pitchers in the game, leading the league in shutouts in back-to-back seasons before earning his first career All-Star nod in 1968.

After a down year in 1971, he was traded to the Dodgers, where he entered baseball immortality — not just from his performance on the field, but from what he overcame. On July 17, 1974, in the midst of his best season since 1968, John felt “strangest sensation [he] had ever known” as his arm went dead; speaking about the incident later, he would say, ““It felt as if I had left my arm someplace else. It was as if my body continued to go forward and my left arm had just flown out to right field, independent of the rest of me.” Although he didn’t know it at the time, that feeling was the “pop” that meant his ulnar collateral ligament had torn.

At the time, the injury was a career-ender. However, Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers’ team physician, attempted a surgery that had never been done on an elbow before, replacing the UCL in John’s left elbow with a ligament from his right wrist. After a long recovery that required an additional surgery to reroute the ulnar nerve, John returned to the mound on April 16, 1976 — and changing baseball forever.

John pitched for 14 more seasons after receiving the surgery that takes his name, including all eight of his years in pinstripes. He retired after the 1989 season — his age-46 campaign! — embarking on a career as a television analyst, college and minor league baseball coach, and a motivational speaker. The last was pretty big accomplishment, as he had a stutter growing up, and was shamefully even forbidden from speaking at his high school graduation despite being the valedictorian because of it.

While John never made it into Cooperstown despite his long career and pioneering efforts, he unquestionably goes down as one of the most important players to have ever played the game. His courage to brave an experimental surgery and resilience to engage in a year-long recovery from near-paralysis to return to the big-league mound revolutionized sports medicine and has made possible the careers of countless pitchers, and more than a handful of position players, who would otherwise have seen their dreams cut short.

Consider the following list of excellent players: Gerrit Cole, John Smoltz, Shohei Ohtani, Max Fried, Bryce Harper, Justin Verlander, Carlos Rodón, Jacob deGrom, Didi Gregorius, David Wells, A.J. Burnett, Chris Carpenter, Chris Sale, Tyler Glasnow, Gleyber Torres, Tom Gordon, Tim Hudson, Yu Darvish, Sandy Alcántara, Paul Molitor, Francisco Liriano, Garrett Crochet, David Robertson, Nathan Eovaldi, Billy Wagner, Salvador Pérez, Aníbal Sánchez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Luis Severino, Corey Seager, and Stephen Strasburg. All had second (or third) acts to their careers made possible by Tommy John and Frank Jobe. Now that’s a legacy.

Rest in peace, Tommy; we wish your family the best.

After the news was announced, the Yankees and Major League Baseball released the following statements:

The Cubs and Cardinals will play the rubber match of this series Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. The Cubs took game one Friday afternoon, which was quite the pitchers’ duel only interrupted by a home run swing from Seiya Suzuki for a Cubs win. The Cardinals took Saturday’s game on the strength of a rookie debut for the ages with a three-home run game from Joshua Báez. Sunday’s action will be featured on ABC nationally, for baseball fans to enjoy the greatest rivalry in baseball, Midwest Style.

As long-time readers of Bleed Cubbie Blue know, nationally featured games call for a Bingo card. This tradition began in 2019 as a way to distract from the sometimes groan-inducing ESPN booth that had a penchant for ridiculous takes. But even as that booth improved we kept the game around. It’s a fun way to follow the action and see just how predictable a national crew can be as it features baseball action from the cathedral of the sport at the corner of Clark and Addison.

Today’s version features the Cubs hosting their biggest rival in a game that has implications for both teams, with the Cubs trying to chase down the Brewers for the division and the Cardinals trying to eke out any wins they can in the hope of securing a wild card spot in October. As always, make it a blackout game for a challenge, but I don’t recommend making it a drinking game unless you are personally trying to black out.

It’s right there in the medical books, along with Belsey fundoplication, Heineke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty and Keller’s excision arthroplasty: Tommy John surgery.

Purists might refer to it as ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, but the rest of the world knows it as the career-saving surgery named for a sore-armed left-handed Dodgers pitcher.

Tommy John was facing the bleak reality that his career was likely over when he ruptured a ligament in his left elbow on a summer night in 1974, an injury that had sent so many pitchers into an early retirement. But a then-radical surgery not only saved but revived his career, as well as the careers of hundreds of baseball players ranging from Tom Candiotti to John Smoltz to Shohei Ohtani in the 50 years since.

Always more famous for the surgical procedure than his career stats, John died Saturday, the Dodgers announced. He was 83.

Read more:Davey Lopes, part of Dodgers' historic infield and World Series winner, dies at age 80

“We are saddened to hear the news of Tommy John’s passing,” Dodgers president and Chief Executive Officer Stan Kasten said in a statement. “... Tommy was an exceptional pitcher throughout his career in Major League Baseball and his courageous role in becoming the first to have surgery that would go on to bear his name can’t be overstated. His impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come.”

A good pitcher before the surgery with 124 wins in 12 seasons with three teams, he won 164 more afterward — only one fewer than Sandy Koufax during his entire career, he liked to point out — in 14 more seasons with four teams, finally retiring at 46 with a 288-231 record and a 3.34 earned-run average.

“Dr. Jobe made it so I could throw a baseball again,” John told The Times’ Sam Farmer in 2023 from his home in Sarasota, Fla. “After surgery, I never missed a start, and I even pitched out of the bullpen every once in a while.”

He pitched for the Dodgers and the Angels and had two successful stints with the New York Yankees but it was with the Dodgers that he had his greatest success, an 87-42 record and a 2.97 ERA, helping them to consecutive World Series appearances.

It was also as a Dodger that he had his history-making operation.

He came to the Dodgers in a trade from the Chicago White Sox in December 1971 with an 84-91 record, a good curveball and a less than intimidating fastball. Pitching coach Red Adams convinced him that precision location and ball movement were more effective than raw speed and John went 11-5 the following season. He also became well acquainted with orthopedist Frank Jobe, the team physician.

Late in the season, he jammed his left elbow sliding into home plate, jarring loose some bone chips. Jobe cleaned things up for John during the offseason.

Then in July 1974, by which time John had become a mainstay in the pitching rotation, he threw a pitch to Hal Breeden of the Montreal Expos that changed his life, and ultimately the lives of many others.

“Right at the point where I put force on the pitch, the point where my arm is back and bent, something happened,” he told Sports Illustrated. “It felt as if I had left my arm somewhere else. It was as if my body continued to go forward and my left arm had just flown out to right field, independent of the rest of me.

“I heard this thudding sound in my elbow, then I felt a sharp pain.”

John had ruptured the medial ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, although he didn’t know that then. The pitch, of course, was nowhere near the strike zone and, despite the pain and in an effort to see if that was a fluke, he tried to throw another. It bounced off the plate, ending his outing and, for all anyone knew, his pitching career.

Jobe recommended total rest but after a month, with no sign of healing, he came up with an outside-the-box suggestion. Earlier, Jobe had grafted a tendon to a recovered polio patient’s ankle to provide stabilization. He thought maybe a tendon could be grafted to a pitcher’s elbow as well.

He gave John a grim choice: Do nothing and never pitch again, or try the surgery at 100-1 odds against success.

“I told Dr. [Frank] Jobe if you do your job I will do more than mine,” John told The Times last year. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right doctor and team.”

Read more:Legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dies at age 93 of a heart attack

So, on Sept. 25, 1974, Jobe took a tendon from John’s right arm, threaded it through holes he had drilled in John’s left elbow and hoped it all would work.

Nerve damage necessitated a second surgery several months later and the prospects were not promising. John’s left arm had atrophied, his hand now basically a claw, and two of his fingers were numb.

Even so, he began rehab, knowing he would miss the entire 1975 season. He taped the unfeeling fingers to the functioning ones so that he could grip a baseball, then, resembling “a little boy throwing against the steps of his back porch,” threw against a wall. He squeezed Silly Putty and strictly adhered to a physical therapy regimen.

By June 1975 he had regained the use of his entire hand and in late September pitched three innings in an exhibition game. He continued his routine through the offseason and into spring training, once joking, “When they operated on my arm, I asked them to put in a Koufax fastball. They did but it turned out to be Mrs. Koufax.”

Surprising many, who considered it at least a minor miracle, he was back in the rotation at the start of the 1976 season and went five innings in his first start, giving up five hits and three runs in a loss to the Braves in Atlanta. He finished the season at 10-10 with a 3.09 ERA, and if anyone was still wondering about his comeback, he put doubts to rest in 1977.

In one of his best seasons, he won 20 games, had a 2.78 ERA and finished second in National League Cy Young award voting for the pennant-winning Dodgers. In a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the clinching Game 4 of the NL Championship Series — then a best-of-five format — John pitched a complete game, striking out eight in a 130-pitch effort.

He came back with a 17-victory season in ’78 and the Dodgers won the pennant again but again lost to the Yankees in the World Series, with John winning a game in both the NLCS and World Series. After the season, he signed with New York as a free agent.

He was an immediate hit with the Yankees, winning 21 games in 1979 and finishing second in the American League Cy Young voting, then won 22 in ’80. In 1981, the Yankees reached the World Series, once again facing the Dodgers — and John was at the center of the most controversial decision in the series that ultimately sealed New York’s fate.

John was the starter in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium with the Dodgers leading the series, 3-2. The left-hander had won Game 2, giving up three hits over seven innings in a 3-0 victory, and had completed four innings of one-run ball when Yankees manager Bob Lemon elected to pinch-hit for John with two runners on in a 1-1 game. ABC, which broadcast the World Series that year, showed John looking visibly upset and surprised as he paced the dugout.

Bobby Murcer flied out to right to end the inning, and the Dodgers would score eight runs over the next four innings against an ineffective Yankees bullpen to secure a 9-2 victory and win the franchise’s first World Series since 1965.

Read more:Dodgers star Fernando Valenzuela, who changed MLB by sparking Fernandomania, dies at 63

“At the time my reaction was, ‘why is he doing this?’ I was pitching fine and you don’t pull someone out in the fourth inning just because you need a hit at the time,” John said last year. “I was not happy, but that was so long ago in retrospect could we have won? I think so. Does it matter now? No.”

In John’s two stints with the Yankees — he had four seasons with the Angels in between — he was 91-60 with a 3.59 ERA.

And it was with the Yankees that he made the record book, in a way no player would ever want. He committed three errors in an inning, all on the same play during a game July 27, 1988.

With the Yankees leading the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 and Jim Gantner on first for the Brewers, John charged a slow roller by Jeffrey Leonard to the first-base side of the mound. First, he bobbled the ball. Then, he sailed it past first baseman Don Mattingly, bouncing it off the right-field ballboy. Dave Winfield made a nice play on the ball and fired a strong throw home. It was on line and probably would have nailed the hustling Gantner but John cut it off, then threw wildly past catcher Don Slaught and into the Brewers’ dugout as Gantner scored.

John’s summation, according to Newsday? “I must have had a metal cup on. It glitched the ions in the air.”

After his playing days, John did some broadcasting, some minor league managing and became a strong advocate for suicide prevention after one of his sons took his own life. And after seeing many young pitchers, some still in their teens, undergo the surgery named for him, he spoke out against arm overuse, recommending less than year-round pitching by young arms.

Read more:Meet Shohei Ohtani's surgeon, who fixes sports' biggest stars and saved his $700-million arm

But regardless of the context, John is forever linked to the operation that continues to be performed by orthopedic surgeons such as Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who began learning how to perform the procedure when he was a fellow at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in 1990 from Jobe himself. The two would operate together twice a week throughout the 1990s and were close friends until Jobe’s death in 2014.

“It should have been called the Frank Jobe operation,” ElAttrache told The Times in 2023. “But with Frank being the man he was, it was all about the person he was treating. It wasn’t about him.”

By ElAttrache’s estimation, he has performed the operation between 50 and 75 times per year over his career — including the two he has done on Ohtani, one in 2018 and one in 2023. And although ElAttrache has put his own signatures on the surgery — including a second graft to further fortify Ohtani’s elbow — the operation has remained largely the same since Jobe first performed it in 1974.

John is survived by his wife, Cheryl, and his children, Tommy, Travis and Tamara. A private celebration of his life will be held in Florida.

Former Times staff writer Michael Kupper wrote this obituary prior to his death in 2025.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Detroit Tigers (60-63) vs. Chicago White Sox (64-58)

Time/Place: 1:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site:South Side Sox
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Drew Anderson (4-4, 3.91 ERA) vs. RHP Sean Burke (7-6, 2.99 ERA)

Paul Skenes hasn’t quite been PAUL SKENES this season — he gave up at least 5 earned runs in 3 of his 6 starts in July. Nevertheless, it’s still a nice little treat for the Sox that he’s been bumped from this afternoon’s start.

Instead, it’ll be Lake Bachar taking the bump for the Pirates. Bachar is a reliever, but he has thrown 3 innings in a game 4 times already this season, including twice this month. Presumably, that’s what the Bucs will be hoping to get out of him before turning the game over to the rest of the bullpen.

With Masataka Yoshida heading to the IL, Adley Rutschman will assume DH duties. Willson Contreras, who is hitting under the Mendoza line with just a single homer in August, will get the day off.

On the other side of the ball it’ll be Patrick Sandoval making his seventh start of the year. Sandoval’s superficial numbers are perfectly respectable, but anyone who’s watched him pitch knows he’s been the beneficiary a lot of luck and has walked on a tightrope every time out. Hopefully this afternoon he doesn’t fall off.

This is game #126. And it is an early game, but I’m out for a while. I might be back before game time, but I might not, so this is the GameThread if I don’t get back in time. I played singles tennis this morning, I don’t do that very often, but won. It is fun, but I like doubles because if I lose, it is my partner’s fault.

Dylan Cease gets the start for the forces of white.

Ryan Weathers for the forces of darkness.

Just back in time to put the lineups in:

Tommy John, who pitched 26 seasons in the majors, including eight with the Yankees, has died at the age of 83.

“The New York Yankees mourn the passing of Tommy John, who was a bedrock of our rotation during his time in pinstripes and a longtime favorite of Yankees fans," the club said in a team statement. "While his incredible longevity and post-surgery achievements changed the fortunes and trajectory of countless athletes around the world, it also overshadowed his excellence as a pitcher, which included consecutive 20‑win seasons with the Yankees. We pause to remember the totality of his legacy — his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer. The Yankees extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends, including wife, Cheryl, daughter, Tamara, and sons Tommy III and Travis. We also keep his son Taylor in our hearts.”

John did not appear at this year's Old Timers' Game at Yankee Stadium, and instead shared a message from his home in Bradenton, Fla. as he battled health issues, saying in part:

"I want to thank the Yankees organization & the Steinbrenner family for giving me this opportunity to say goodbye to everyone, along with all the friends & fans who followed me throughout my 26-year career."

John also thanked Dr. Frank Jobe, who performed UCL reconstruction surgery on the pitcher in 1974 that is now forever known as Tommy John surgery.

John pitched in eight seasons with the Yankees (1979-82, 1986-89), posting a 3.59 ERA. He also pitched for the White Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Indians, and Athletics in a career that spanned from 1963-89.

Keith Hernandez also shared some words about John during Sunday's game between the Mets and National:

"Just a wonderful man... he should be in the Hall of Fame, I'm going to continue to promote him for that"

Keith Hernandez talks about his first time facing Tommy John, who was pitching for the Dodgers: pic.twitter.com/C0bx7cPSCV

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Divisional matchups have not gone well for the Nats this season. They are now 11-26 against NL East teams. After dropping the first two games to the Mets, they will look to improve that dismal record. After a promising series against the Reds, the bullpen has been a real problem again.

With a righty on the mound, Blake Butera is making a few lineup changes. Jorbit Vivas is in for Nasim Nunez at second base. Abimelec Ortiz will be at first base, but Andres Chaparro will stay in the lineup at DH. Keibert Ruiz will do the catching in this one. Jake Irvin looks to bounce back from a rough start against the Cubs.

The Mets are only making a couple changes. Luis Robert is back in the lineup, but playing left field, which is new for him. Brett Baty will slide from left to second base, with Marcus Semien getting a day off. Luis Torrens will be doing the catching. Christian Scott is on the bump for the Mets.

Game Info:

Stadium: Citi Field

Time: 1:40 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

This has been a really disappointing series for the Nats but they have a chance to salvage a game today. They will need more consistent play at the plate and on the mound to do that though. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats.

Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger is set to start a rehab assignment this week, manager Aaron Boone said before Sunday's game at the Toronto Blue Jays.

Bellinger (left hamstring strain) is expected to play games Tuesday and Thursday, likely with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, before potentially rejoining New York for this coming weekend's three-game series against the Blue Jays.

This past week, Boone told reporters that Bellinger could soon be back.

Bellinger, 31, has been on the injured list since July 26.

Before his injury, he slashed .259/.350/.420 with 11 home runs and 53 RBI in 102 games.

"Grade 2 strain, so probably a 4-to-6-week situation," Boone said July 27. "The good thing is he's obviously able to move around right now, so we'll continue to do that and just allow this thing to heal and get him right."