In an incredibly sad story, it appears the relatively common surgical procedure that has been saving pitchers’ careers since the mid-1970s recently led to the death of a 20-year-old ace.
George Mason baseball player Sang Ho Baek underwent Tommy John surgery to fix a torn ligament inside his elbow on June 8. Baek, who completed his freshman season at the Virginia university, suffered complications following the procedure and died at a TidalHealth medical facility in Maryland on June 12, according to The New York Times.
“Our family is devastated and we want answers to why our healthy son would die so suddenly after routine surgery,” said the young pitcher’s father Seong Han Baek.
Born in Seoul, Baek graduated from James M. Bennett High School in 2020 and helped earn the Maryland school a state championship in baseball in 2019.
“Sang was an incredible teammate who was loved by everyone associated with Mason baseball,” George Mason Patriots head coach Bill Brown said in a statement. “He will be missed and forever cherished in our hearts. Right now, our thoughts are with Sang’s family at the unbearably difficult time.”
“Sang embodied everything you would want from a student-athlete,” said George Mason director of athletics Brad Edwards. “He was an excellent student, dedicated teammate and friend to so many. We are committed to providing support and resources to Sang’s teammates and all those in the Mason family who loved him.”
A funeral service will be held for Baek on Saturday. A GoFundMe page created to assist the family with funeral expenses has already raised more than $26,000 in donations.
“His death is tragic,” Boston University School of Public Health dean Sandro Galea told the Times. “It is hard to say what happened and it will require an autopsy to determine the cause here. All surgeries, even relatively minor and routine ones, carry some risk.”
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