Of all the members currently sitting in baseball's unofficial "Hall of Very Good" — among them are Fred McGriff, Steve Garvey, Vada Pinson, Dave Parker, Vida Blue, Luis Tiant and Jim Kaat — perhaps no one is more deserving of a Baseball Hall of Fame nod than Tommy John. Even if you don't know him as a player, you know the name because of the famous surgical procedure from which he successfully recovered. And if you don't know him as a player, here are some key statistics that paint his career in a Hall of Fame-esque light:
Career: 1963-1989
WAR for Pitchers: 62.1 (No. 53 all-time)
Games Started: 700 (No. 8 all-time)
Innings Pitched: 4,710.1 (No. 20 all-time)
Wins: 288 (No. 26 all-time)
No Decisions: 188 (No. 1 all-time... and yes, this matters, seeing as just 12 of them would give him the golden ticket of 300 wins)
Shutouts: 46 (No. 26 all-time)
Strikeouts: 2,245 (No. 61 all-time)
You can find these numbers and a lot more on any typical statistics page, like Baseball Reference, or on TommyJohnCooperstown.org. There, you'll find videos, articles, a link to a GoFundMe page, a letter urging for his induction into Cooperstown and more. You'll also find a link to a Facebook group of the same name — "Tommy John Cooperstown" — with 700-plus members all devoted to the same cause: to get this man enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Gregory Gay, the sports editor of the Watertown Daily Times, brought these diehard Tommy John fans to light in a feature story about the Facebook group and the other efforts but together by Ted Doyle and company. Doyle created the Facebook page last November, and he's done much more, including organizing media campaigns, radio spots and more. He was a fan of John in the 1970s, but became enwrapped in the Hall of Fame debate after meeting the longtime pitcher after talking with his wife, Chery Zeldin John.
"She said, ‘Tommy loves to see fans, why don’t you come out?’" Doyle told the Watertown Daily Times. "So my wife and I drove out to see them. ... They invited us in and here I thought I was going to be in and out, get a signature, hi and bye. We were there for over an hour, it was the coolest experience. I’m sitting across from him, he’s telling baseball stories, he’s listening to me."
From there, he went home and looked deeper into John's career and found himself in disbelief over the fact that John was still on the outside looking into the plaque gallery at Cooperstown.
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While Doyle and the other fans do everything in their power to get the media's attention and push for John's induction, the retired pitcher — now 78 years old — tries not to concern himself with such matters.
"... I can’t control Hall of Fame voting so I don’t worry about it," John said. "If I could control it and I couldn’t get in, then I’d be miserable."
With Derek Jeter's induction becoming official on Wednesday afternoon and Alex Rodriguez becoming another prominent Yankee on the ballot come 2022, is it possible that John, who spent more years with the Yankees than with any other franchise in his career, become the next pinstriped figure in the Hall? Does he warrant induction? Will others like Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly command more attention in terms of former Yankees? Will a relatively small Facebook group do anything to improve John's chances? Only time will tell.
