YES Network.com

Renowned orthopedic surgeon Lewis Yocum, who extended the careers of many big league pitchers, has died. He was 65.

Lewis was the team orthopedist of the Los Angeles Angels and also treated other players around the majors. Angels spokesman Tim Mead said Tuesday that Yocum, who was battling liver cancer, died on Saturday in Manhattan Beach.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig called Yocum "a giant in the field of sports medicine."

Yocum specialized in sports medicine, shoulder, elbow and knees, according to the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Web site. The clinic was founded by Frank Jobe, a doctor who pioneered elbow replacement surgery, popularly known as Tommy John surgery, in 1974.

Yocum, Jobe and James Andrews became the key surgeons for big leaguers. Washington pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann were among the players treated by Yocum.