Tommy John isn’t sure why he’s been kept out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but he has a clue: his support for former president Donald Trump.
John, who is best known for the ubiquitous elbow surgery named after him, blamed his choice at the ballot box in 2016 and 2020 for his falling short on Cooperstown ballots over the years.
“Maybe because I voted for Donald Trump,” John said when asked by Michael Kay on Wednesday afternoon on “The Michael Kay Show” why he wasn’t in the Hall of Fame. “Probably. I don’t know. I have no idea. If I knew and I could do something, I would do it. But I can’t.”
After retiring in 1989, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot from 1995 to 2009 – long before Trump’s decision to run for president in 2016.
John got four more shots at making it to Cooperstown through the Veteran’s Committee in 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2020 – the latter two years, of course, were after Trump had become president.
Needing 75 percent of votes to make it, John topped out at 31.7 percent of the electorate in 2009, his final year on the ballot.
John spent 26 seasons in the big leagues from 1963 to 1989, making four All-Star teams in stints with the then-Indians, White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, Angels and A’s.
He had a 3.34 career ERA and compiled 288 wins.
Only Roger Clemens, who was linked to steroids, and Bobby Mathews, who played in the 19th century when pitcher wins were much more common, had more career wins without making the Hall of Fame.
