72 Facts About Tommy John

Tommy John played for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, California Angels, and Oakland Athletics.

Tommy John was a four-time MLB All-Star and has the third-most wins of any pitcher since 1900 not in the Hall of Fame.

At the age of 18, in 1961, Tommy John was signed by the Indians, who were impressed with his curveball.

Tommy John pitched two seasons for Cleveland before getting traded to the White Sox, with whom he would spend seven seasons.

Tommy John established himself as a major league starter in 1965 and became Chicago's Opening Day starter in 1966.

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Tommy John won 11 games in 1972 with the Dodgers, then led the National League in winning percentage over the next two seasons.

Tommy John missed the 1975 season recovering from surgery, but he became the first pitcher to successfully return to baseball following such surgery.

Tommy John Surgery has since become a common procedure among baseball pitchers, with one out of seven MLB pitchers in 2012 having received it at some point during their careers.

Tommy John appeared in three World Series contested between the Dodgers and Yankees, his only World Series appearances, and pitched for the losing team in all three.

Tommy John was traded to the California Angels in 1982, for whom he made two starts in the AL Championship Series.

Tommy John remained with the team until 1985, when he was released, though he spent the second half of the season pitching for the Oakland Athletics.

Tommy John won 13 games for the Yankees in 1987, then became the oldest player in baseball in 1988 following Phil Niekro's retirement.

From 1995 through 2009, Tommy John was on the Hall of Fame ballot; he never received more than 31.

Tommy John served as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins and the Yankees in the 1990s, then managed the Bridgeport Bluefish from 2007 through the first half of the 2009 season.

Tommy John was an outstanding baseball and basketball player at Gerstmeyer High School in Terre Haute, Indiana.

School faculty forbade Tommy John from delivering a valedictory address because of his stutter.

Tommy John picked baseball and signed with the Indians after graduating, getting assigned to the Dubuque Packers of the Class D Midwest League.

Indians' pitching coach Early Wynn had been trying to get Tommy John to throw a slider, but Tommy John altered his grip, affecting his control.

Tommy John tied for the American League lead with five shutouts during the season.

Tommy John was plagued in the season's second half by a severe gastrointestinal virus that caused him to lose 28 pounds.

McAuliffe was fined and suspended; Tommy John was not punished, but he tore some shoulder ligaments in the scuffle and missed the rest of the season with an injury.

Tommy John recovered in time for the 1969 season, though Gary Peters got the Opening Day start, with Tommy John second in the rotation.

Tommy John lost four starts in a row after that game, then won his next five decisions.

Tommy John finished fourth in walks, and he led the AL in wild pitches, throwing what would be a career-high 17.

Tommy John got along much better with Red Adams, the Dodger pitching coach, who encouraged John to use his soft fastball instead of trying to rely on his breaking pitches.

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Tommy John singled against Frank Reberger in the third, advanced to second on a walk, and attempted to score on a single by Bill Buckner.

Tommy John recorded 116 strikeouts, 50 walks, and 202 hits allowed in 218 innings of work.

Tommy John began 1974 as the Dodgers' number two starter, behind Don Sutton in the rotation.

Tommy John led the NL in wins coming into the All-Star break but was left off the roster, as the Dodgers already had Andy Messersmith and Mike Marshall on the team.

Tommy John attempted to pitch batting practice in New York, and when he failed to get much velocity on his pitches, he told Alston he was likely done for the season.

Tommy John's arm was in a cast until January 1975, and once it was removed, John began performing exercises seven days a week to rebuild strength in the arm.

Tommy John attended spring training with the Dodgers in 1975, by which point he had recovered the full range of motion of his arm but still lacked feeling in some of his fingers, preventing him from gripping the ball properly.

Tommy John worked with teammate and pitcher Mike Marshall, who had a Master's degree in kinesiology and who was said to know how to help pitchers recover from injuries, on learning a different grip to use while pitching.

Tommy John returned to the Dodgers in 1976, the fourth starter in their rotation after spending all of the previous year on the disabled list.

Dissatisfied with his contract entering spring training in 1977, Tommy John threatened to file for free agency after the season.

Tommy John finished 12th in NL Most Valuable Player voting and was second in voting for the NL Cy Young Award, bested by Steve Carlton, who led the NL with 23 wins.

For Tommy John, who had been injured when the Dodgers won the division in 1974, it was his first chance to pitch in the playoffs.

Tommy John gave up four unearned runs, the result of two errors by Bill Russell, the Dodger shortstop.

In both of his NLCS starts, Tommy John gave up fewer runs than his opponent on the mound, Carlton.

Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda said John would start Game 7 if the series went that far, but the Yankees clinched it in six games, making Game 3 John's only appearance in the loss.

Tommy John won all four of his starts in April 1978, throwing complete games in the last three.

Tommy John finished 22nd in MVP voting and was the runner-up in Cy Young voting again, this time to Flanagan.

In 36 starts, Tommy John won a career-high 22 games while losing nine, recording a 3.

Tommy John tied with Mike Norris for second in the AL in wins, behind Steve Stone's 25.

Tommy John's season was interrupted by the 1981 Major League Baseball strike and by an incident that occurred on August 13.

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Tommy John was warming up for a game against the Tigers when he found out the news.

Tommy John allowed just one run against the Athletics in Game 1 of the ALCS, earning the win, but he was replaced on the mound by Ron Davis after the sixth inning because his right ankle was bothering him.

The 1981 World Series was the third Dodger-Yankee World Series Tommy John had been a part of, though it was his first with New York.

Tommy John held the Dodgers to one run over four innings but was pinch-hit for by Bobby Murcer in the fourth.

Tommy John did not stay in the bullpen long, as doubleheaders forced the Yankees to require another starter and John pitched well upon his return to the rotation.

Tommy John led the AL in hits allowed with 287, and 1983 would be the last time he would top 200 innings in a season.

Tommy John went unsigned to begin 1986, and it looked like his career might be over.

Tommy John attended spring training with the Yankees, though, and though he did not make the roster, the Yankees informed him that they would consider him if they needed pitchers later in the year.

Jim Gantner tried to score, and Tommy John cut off a throw to home, then threw it by the head of the catcher for his third error of the game.

Tommy John had 188 career no decisions, an all-time MLB record among starting pitchers .

Tommy John first appeared on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in 1995.

Tommy John was announced as one of the finalists for the 2020 Modern Baseball Era ballot; however he was not one of the inductees.

Tommy John went on to win 164 games after having the surgery, 40 more than before.

Tommy John was a soft throwing sinkerball pitcher whose technique resulted in batters hitting numerous ground balls which often induced double plays.

The Indians tried to get him to throw a slider in 1964, but Tommy John struggled with it and went back to throwing two pitches later that year.

Tommy John's arm lagged behind the rest of his body when he threw pitches, a technique that put extra stress on it, which contributed to his UCL injury in 1974.

Tommy John tried to emulate Whitey Ford's pitching style, and he studied books on pitching by Christy Mathewson, Bob Feller, and Bob Shaw.

Between his stints with the Angels and Athletics in 1985, Tommy John served as color commentator alongside Tim McCarver for a game between the White Sox and the Athletics on ABC's Monday Night Baseball on June 24.

In 1997, Tommy John served as the color commentator for the Charlotte Knights of the International League, performing a public relations role for the ballclub.

Tommy John returned to New York in 1998 to do commentary on select games during WPIX's final year of broadcasting Yankee baseball.

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In 2014, Tommy John moved to California with his girlfriend, Cheryl Zeldin, who he was married to as of January 2022.

In 1998, Tamara Tommy John married Patrick Mannelly, who went on to become a long snapper for the Chicago Bears.

John's oldest son, Tommy III, played baseball for the Furman University Paladins.

Tommy John was a 4-year letterman for the Paladins, leading the team in complete games as a pitcher in 1997 and in home runs in 1999, a year in which he was named an All-Southern Conference player.

The complex was the site of Tommy John's last non-professional game in 1961, when he was a member of the Terre Haute Gerstmeyer High School Black Cats.

Tommy John eventually overcame his stuttering problem and earned a reputation as one of baseball's most talkative players.

Tommy John was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2018.