A former Major League Baseball pitcher claims he’s not in the Hall of Fame because he’s a Donald Trump supporter. The problem, Trump was elected president seven years after Tommy John fell off the Hall of Fame ballot.
John made the media rounds Wednesday as Sept. 25 marks the 50th anniversary of the transformational Tommy John surgery. Dr. Frank Jobe, who was the Los Angeles Dodgers team surgeon, conducted the innovative procedure for the very first time in 1974, where he reconstructed John’s ulnar collateral ligament in the left-handed pitcher’s elbow.
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According to baseball writer and analyst Jon Roegele, 1,247 pitchers have undergone the surgery since then.
On the 50th anniversary of the original Tommy John surgery on Tommy John himself, a list of 1247 MLB players who have had Tommy John surgery pic.twitter.com/1YwPNAFWoH
— Jon Roegele (@MLBPlayerAnalys) September 25, 2024
John, who was nicknamed “The Bionic Man,” would miss the 1975 season, but came back in 1976 with a 3.09 ERA, and collected 164 wins over the next 14 years.
Despite his gaudy stats — 288 wins, 3.34 ERA, 162 complete games, 46 shutouts — John doesn’t have a plaque in Cooperstown.
During an appearance on “The Michael Kay Show,” New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay asked John why he doesn’t think he was elected to the Hall of Fame.
Tommy John tells The Michael Kay Show he's not in the Hall of Fame because he voted for Trump. Tommy John was on the ballot from 1995-2009. pic.twitter.com/pxp7AruPGS
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 25, 2024
“Maybe because I voted for Donald Trump,” John responded.
“You think that’s it?” replied Kay.
“Probably,” said John, who then started laughing. “I don’t know, I have no idea. If I knew and I could do something, I would do it, but I can’t.”
The thing is, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot from 1985-2009, well before Trump ran for the White House.
Tommy John believes surgery hurt HOF chances
In a separate interview on “The Dan Patrick Show,” John believes the surgery that bears his name hurt his chances at Cooperstown.
Tommy John has 288 career wins as an #MLB pitcher. Should his stats combined with the fact that he was the first to have baseball's most famous surgery get him into the @Baseballhall? pic.twitter.com/XHu05AkhVr
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 25, 2024
“I think it hurts it. When you look at 288, and I had 188 no-decisions, the most in baseball history,” said John. “So, if you take 288 wins, and 188 no-decisions, there’s a lot of wins in those no-decisions.”
John also finished top-ten in Cy Young voting four times — including second-place twice — and was a four-time All-Star.
Over 26 seasons, John pitched for four teams: the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees.
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