Editor’s Note: There will be a Season Ticket podcast available soon that will have a discussion of all the candidates.
There are 10 individuals who have an opportunity to be added to the list of members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Press Room Pass is selecting its four choices for the 2020 induction class from the Modern Baseball Era ballot.
The announcement on Sunday (Dec. 8) will be on the MLB Network at 8 p.m.
Voters on the Modern Baseball Era Committee can select four of the eight names on the ballot that had the greatest impact from 1970-1987.
Dwight Evans, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Marvin Miller, Thurman Munson, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons and Lou Whitaker are being considered for induction.
Here’s the third of four Press Room Pass votes for the nominees: Tommy John.
Ulnar collateral ligament.
Let’s have a show of hands if you knew what that was before 1974.
However, this really isn’t a story about UCL reconstruction, which now known as Tommy John Surgery.
This is about the pitcher named Tommy John and his candidacy for the Hall of Fame.
Many baseball fans have an issue with longevity and career stats. For some, players with over 20 years in the big leagues are considered compilers and therefore not relevant for baseball’s ultimate individual honor.
For me, John seemed to be on a mound forever, which is a testament to his endurance and ability. His career began when I was just a few months old and when he retired I was 26. He was 46-years old.
John has 288 career victories and that puts him in 26th place on the all-time list no matter how many years it took to get there. It doesn’t matter. From 1963 to 1974, John won 124 games with the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
His six seasons with the Dodgers were divided in half due to his surgery in late 1974. He was 40-12 from 1972 to 1974.
After missing the 1975 season, he was 47-27 over the next three years as the Dodgers reached the World Series in 1977 and 1978.
John won 20 games in his career three times with all of then after his landmark surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe. The first was with the Dodgers at 20-7 in 1977, which was the season after he was named the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year.
In 1979 with the New York Yankees, John was 21-9 with a 2.96 ERA. The following season, he was 22-9 and topped the American League in shutouts for the third time in his career. He led the AL in shutouts with the White Sox in 1966 (5) and 1967 (6).
A four-time all-star, John finished in the top 10 of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America balloting 11 times. In 2009, his final year on the ballot, he was seventh with 31.7 percent of the vote. Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice both surpassed the 75 percent threshold to be inducted. However, since that time the others finishing ahead of John, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven, Lee Smith and Jack Morris have gone into Cooperstown.
Interestingly, three players who finished below John are now in the Hall of Fame. Tim Raines, Alan Trammell have joined the ranks.
While John’s election to the Hall of Fame might be difficult, it’s something that would be well-deserved.