FanPost

Fanpost Call: Tommy John for Hall of Fame



My answer for the Fanpost call is that Tommy John should be in the Hall of Fame. He has 288 career wins, which is the most of anyone not in the Hall of Fame besides cheater Roger Clemens. Additionally, his ERA was 3.34, which is impressive by itself, but especially when you realize that he maintained that over the course of 4710.1 innings.

So as a player, he was good, but I understand that he’s a borderline guy and compiler. However, I also view him as a pioneer for being the first player to undergo and rehab Tommy John surgery, and he played 14 seasons after that. I understand that the doctor, Frank Jobe, deserves more credit as a pioneer for actually doing the surgery, but I view them both as pioneers of the game. People underestimate the guts it takes to undergo a brand new surgery and then successfully rehab it with no previous map to follow.

So basically, my argument is that he’s a borderline case for the Hall of Fame as a player, and he’s borderline for the Hall of Fame as a pioneer of the game. So when you combine both of those cases, he should be in, and should’ve been elected this year on the veterans committee but wasn’t.