Ex-MLB pitcher Tommy John is known to most people for being the namesake of the groundbreaking surgical procedure that has restored the pitching arms of hundreds of baseball players.
But what most people don’t know is that he did have a long career in the big leagues, having retired with 288 wins and a 3.34 ERA.
Numbers he believe should land him in the baseball Hall of Fame.
But despite never receiving more than 31.7% of the vote from writers to get into Cooperstown, John has a theory on why he’s not been voted into the hall of fame.
He says it has to do with his political views.
“Maybe because I voted for Donald Trump,” John told ESPN New York radio.
Tommy John believes he is not in Hall of Fame due to voting for Donald Trump https://t.co/ScxMLDrWeX
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 25, 2024
John was on the writers’ ballot from 1995 to 2009, and Trump didn’t run until 2016. John also was not voted in by the Veteran’s Committee in both 2011 and 2014, but the committee also skipped over him in 2018 and 2020.
John isn’t the first pitcher to say politics kept him out of the Hall.
Former star Curt Schilling voiced similar sentiments after he just missed enshrinement in his penultimate year on the ballot, and he even requested to be left off the ballot in his final year. Neither the Hall of Fame nor the writers obliged, and Schilling got a lower percentage the following year. His fate is now in the hands of the Veteran’s Committee.
John played in the major leagues from 1963 to 1989, playing for the White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees and the then-Indians.