Posted on 08/16/2026 10:23:07 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
MLB legend Tommy John has died at the age of 83 surrounded by his family.
The news comes just days after the baseball icon penned an emotional goodbye letter as he went into hospice care in Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesun.ie ...
“Just hearing his name, makes me want to have that shoulder surgery i had been putting off”
Just don’t tell your Dr you want Tommy John surgery as it’s a repair to the elbow not the shoulder, LOL!
“The Veterans’ Committee needs to save face and vote him in at the earliest opportunity.
Should not have been a posthumous honor for such a deserving player”
Yep, ridiculous. it will probably now happen, a shame not when he was alive.
26 years, 288 wins, 3.34 ERA, Hell, he hit 5 Home runs to boot.
I won’t, especially since my doc is Dr. Nick
I think he sorta transcends the stats. He belongs just because he was the first to have the reconstructive surgery. How many pitchers have extended careers because of him?
Just like Charlie Hough belongs because he was a great pitcher who spent his career with bad teams. I normally don’t like to use pitcher wins as a stat, but in, I think, 1983 he won 18 games for a team that lost nearly 100 games. That is a remarkable achievement.
How crazy that Lou Gehrig died from the same disease with his name, what were the odds?
In 1974, John underwent Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction surgery,
His career numbers look awesome in a modern era when pitchers don't log the games and innings that they once did, but at no time in his career did I ever consider Tommy John a Hall of Famer -- or even among the top 10-15 starting pitchers in the game.
The guy appeared in four All-Star Games in 26 years. That's all you need to know about his HOF credentials.
His story is great. He was also a coach and announcer. But the surgery is worth it. He actually comes back stronger after the surgery. He was an all-star a few times. A teams opening day pitcher several years. One of the longest careers. The Hall could do a whole story on him and the surgery. He has better career stats than many all-star pitchers.
Did they go back and change all of the player information for the Cleveland Indians at the BHoF? From Indians to Guardians??
Just wonderingl.
I have no history with this team but I will always call them the Indians. It is baseball history going back over a hundred years.
“The Veterans’ Committee needs to save face and vote him in at the earliest opportunity.”
The VC really sucks. Lots of guys are getting in that don’t really belong. Especially when it was dominated by ex-Red Sox and Cardinals. One above average guy got in because of a certain World Series home run. Surely, the eponymous surgery and almost 300 wins are worth consideration.
The surgical procedure performed on Tommy John’s elbow was developed by Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974 while he had Tommy as a patient. So the specific UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) repair procedure didn’t exist/have a name before Tommy’s surgery.
https://drchristophersahmad.substack.com/p/the-evolution-of-tommy-john-surgery
Phil Niekro was 46 when he pitched for the Yanks. He was 48 when he finished with three innings for the Braves.
Joe Niekro was 42 when he pitched for the Yanks before winding up with the Twins.
They were both on the Yanks in 1985.
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