Tommy John is another who is on the Classic Baseball Era Committee Ballot.
John played 26 seasons in the MLB. 26. Maybe he should be in the Hall for that alone. He played from 1963 to o1989
He has a 288-231 record, a 3.34 ERA in 760 games, 700 starts, and a 62.1 bWAR. He played for Cleveland, White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, Angels, A’s and Yankees again.
John had Cy Young votes four times, finishing second twice, fourth and eighth. He had MVP votes twice and made four All-Star times.
He won 20 games twice. Had bWAR values over 5.0 four times, topping out at 5.6. He threw over 200 innings 12 times.
John missed the 1975 season because he had Tommy John surgery (what are the odds that a guy named Tommy John would have Tommy John surgery. I guess about the same odds that Lou Gehrig would have Lou Gehrig’s disease).
John was on the BBWAA ballot 15 times. He topped out at 31.7% of the vote in his last time on there. He was also on the Veteran’s Committee ballot four times. He is 81 now, so he is running out of chances to see himself named to the Hall.
He pitched in 14 playoff games, going 6-3 with a 2.65 ERA, but never
Why hasn’t he been elected?
He was never a dominant pitcher. He wasn’t like Tom Seaver or Sandy Koufax. He didn’t blow batters away (he averaged 4.3 strikeouts per nine innings. I don’t think anyone at the time believed he was the best pitcher in baseball when he played.
But he had longevity. I don’t think we’ll ever see a starting pitcher get to 288 wins again.
I don’t know if being the first to have Tommy John surgery should gain him extra votes.
A story on foxnews.com says he believes he isn’t in the Hall because he voted for Trump. Of course, the last time he was on the ballot was seven years before Trump was on the presidential ballot. There are so many jokes I want to make.
His stats are here.