Dr. David Altchek, who performed more than 2,000 Tommy John surgeries and was the New York Mets longtime medical director, died Thursday. He was 68.

His death was announced by the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he was co-chief emeritus. Altchek told associates last year he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

He was the Mets head team physician from 1991-2001 and medical director from 2005-24, physician of the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1999-2003 and North American medical director of the ATP Tour. Altchek was co-chief of HSS’s sports medicine and shoulder service from 2005-14.

“My first Tommy John surgery was in 1993, and I did the procedure that Dr. Jobe, Dr. Frank Jobe prescribed,” Altchek said during a 2024 interview with The Associated Press. “It took 2 1/2 hours and I was exhausted. And I realized then that we had to do something about Tommy John surgery. We had to make it a little bit easier.”

Working with residents and fellows, Altchek developed what was called a docking procedure and tested it on about 100 elbows.

“It worked and it worked amazingly well,” Altchek said. “We really did not change it at all for 20-something years.”

Altchek estimated last year he had performed more than 2,400 Tommy John surgeries. He was a preferred surgeon for the Tommy John procedure in recent years along with Texas Rangers physician Dr. Keith Meister and Los Angeles Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

“Renowned worldwide for his surgical expertise, he was equally admired for the compassion and care he showed to our players,” Mets owner Steve Cohen and wife Alex said in a statement.

Part of Altchek’s job was to reassure a player his baseball career was not over.

“You tell them this is unfortunate, but this is your MRI. This is probably why it happened — meaning you threw outside the envelope of your tissue quality,” he explained. “But we have a procedure that can repair your ligament and reconstruct it in a kind of belt, suspenders way that once it heals the likelihood of you going back to pitching at the same level or above is 95%.”

All-Star Marte’s home burglarized during break

A home belonging to Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte was burglarized during the Major League Baseball All-Star break, according to police.

Scottsdale, Arizona, police confirmed that the department is investigating a “high-dollar residential burglary” that is believed to have happened on Tuesday night, which is when Marte was playing for the National League in its All-Star game win in Atlanta.

Numerous personal items and jewelry were stolen. No one was at home when the burglary occured.

The burglary is the latest in a series of thefts from the homes of high-profile athletes acoross the country this year. Players have been targeted because of the high-end products believed to be in their homes and sometimes the thefts occur when they are away with their teams for road games.

The FBI has warned sports leagues about crime organizations targeting professional athletes. The NFL and NBA have issued security alerts to athletes.

Tellez to fill in for Burger with Rangers?

Veteran first baseman Rowdy Tellez took part in a workout with the Texas Rangers on Thursday, with the anticipation that he will be added to their roster before the first game after the All-Star break.

Tellez signed a minor league deal with the Rangers on July 5, a week after being released by Seattle. He had been designated for assignment after he hit .208 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs in 62 games with the Mariners.

Texas first baseman Jake Burger (left quad strain) was put on the 10-day injured list for the second time this season on Wednesday.