tommy john has endured the dreaded wait many times since it debuted in the Baseball Hall of Fame vote in 1995.
the first Dodgers The left-hander, the first player to undergo what is now known as Tommy John surgery, remained eligible until 2009, but never received more than 31.7% of the 75% required for selection. John then shuffled the expansion era and modern baseball ballots twice each, being rejected by voting committees.
On Sunday at 16:30, John will know the latest result after another vote.
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“If I had a voice, I would vote for me,” John said Friday in a telephone interview from his home in Florida. “But I don’t.”
John, along with Steve Garvey — former Dodgers first baseman and 1974 National League Most Valuable Player — are two of the eight candidates on the list. Classic Baseball Era Ballotwhich helps overlooked players from past generations get picked up. John and Garvey wore Dodger blue together from 1972 to 1978.
The Historical Review Committee, appointed by the Baseball Writers Association of America, compiles the Classic Baseball Era ballot of players whose greatest achievements occurred before 1980. Eligible players must have played 10 or more seasons.
Dr. Frank Jobe He first performed left-handed elbow surgery on John in 1974, giving rise to the ligament replacement procedure so common today. The Hall of Fame honored Jobe and John together during its 2013 induction ceremony.
“I had the right doctor at the right time and I was in the right place,” John said. “I pitched and never missed a start after I came back.”
While the now 81-year-old may be best known for the surgery, John spent 26 seasons in the majors, tying a Hall of Fame record. Nolan Ryan Entering his 27th season, John, a four-time All-Star, posted a 288-231 record with a 3.34 ERA, 2,245 strikeouts and 61.6 wins above replacement (WAR), according to Baseball Reference, with some of his best seasons in Chavez Ravine. .
“Twenty-six years, 288 wins and (an MLB record) 188 no decisions,” John said when asked how the committee should value career longevity. “Your arm was in good shape and you must be doing something right or you wouldn’t be going out every five days.”
Where John may struggle with voters, as he has in previous years, is with strikeouts and wins above replacement, falling behind most previous pitchers of his era.
Jay Jaffe, author of “The Cooperstown Casebook,” said the 3,000 strikeout mark is often linked to the 300-win mark, making John’s candidacy less likely considering he has neither.
“Maybe part of that depends on how much credit Tommy John deserves versus Dr. Frank Jobe.” said Jaffe, who has written about the Hall of Fame since 2001 and is a senior baseball writer at FanGraphs. “The guy who really had the technical expertise and imagination to perform the surgery.”
Jaffe added that while he leans toward John being denied the election, he hopes that if John is elected, it will be while he is still alive to participate in the swearing-in ceremony.
“I’ve marinated in arguments for more than 20 years,” Jaffe said. “I’d rather you come in while you’re still here.
On the other hand, Garvey is closer to a no sure thing, Jaffe said.
Garvey, who recently lost his race for a U.S. Senate seat, was a 10-time All-Star and hit .294 and 272 home runs in 19 seasons. He was the 1981 World Series champion and played in the historic team alongside Ron Cey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russell from 1973 to 1981.
“There’s a really garbage position in terms of how Garvey was traditionally valued in his time and how we view him now,” said Jaffe, who invented JAWS, a widely used wins above replacement metric to evaluate Hall of Fame merit. Fame. “Having watched dozens and dozens of other very good first basemen who followed in his wake and were more valuable… I kind of despise him as a candidate.”
However, if it were up to John, he’d like to see himself and his former teammate enshrined in Cooperstown on Sunday.
“He was a great teammate,” John said of Garvey. “That would be fine with me.”
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.