May 22 – Happy Birthday Tommy John
My wife dragged me to a performance of Les Miserables at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, NY several years ago. I was not a fan of the place because the seats were built for munchkins and there was absolutely no way for a person my size to get comfortable. Plus if you’re familiar with the epic play about the French Revolution, you know I was not in for a night of excitement and laughs.
Sure enough, as soon as the curtain opened I started fidgeting and with my knees crammed against the seat in front of me, both of my legs quickly went to sleep. I was just about to close my eyes and force myself into a numbing nap when I heard my wife whisper, “That’s that Yankee pitcher’s son singing.” I opened up my program and sure enough, one of the lead characters was Tommy John’s boy. I think it was Travis and he had an absolutely amazing voice.
In spite of this connection to my all-time favorite baseball team, my legs were getting prickly, the lady next to me was pushing my arm off the armrest and I spent the rest of the evening in a painful agony. I remember how good it felt when the final curtain came down and we were able to get up and start walking toward the theater’s exit. As we crawled along with the large crowd approaching the door leading outside, I noticed a man leaning against the wall in the corner nearest me. As I passed him I smiled and told him that his son had a wonderful voice. Tommy John smiled and mouthed back the words “Thank you.”
I liked Tommy John when he pitched for the Yankees but I liked him even more when I saw him that night at Proctor’s Theater. After all, John is 6’3″ tall just like me so I know his legs were sore too. I knew then and there that in addition to being a great pitcher, Tommy was also a good father.
John may be most famous for the surgery (ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction) named after him but he was a pretty good Yankee pitcher too. He had two twenty-victory seasons with New York during his first stay in the Bronx and then went 13-6 for them as a 44-year old in 1987. One of the things that most surprised me when I was doing research for this post was finding out that Tommy won more games as a Yankee (91) than he did for the Dodgers (87) or White Sox (82.) As of right now, those 91 wins place him in the 20th spot on the Yankees’ all-time career wins list. He has more wins as a Yankee than Roger Clemens (83), Bob Turley, David Wells (68) or Catfish Hunter (64) were ever able to achieve in pinstripes.
John was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 22, 1943, the only member of the Yankee all-time roster to be born on today’s date. I was also surprised to find out that there were not too many former Yankee all-star-level players born in Indiana. The best of the Hoosier-born Yankees were Don Mattingly, Don Larsen and John.
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 ★ | NYY | 21 | 9 | .700 | 2.96 | 37 | 36 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 276.1 | 268 | 109 | 91 | 9 | 65 | 111 | 1.205 |
| 1980 ★ | NYY | 22 | 9 | .710 | 3.43 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 265.1 | 270 | 115 | 101 | 13 | 56 | 78 | 1.229 |
| 1981 | NYY | 9 | 8 | .529 | 2.63 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 140.1 | 135 | 50 | 41 | 10 | 39 | 50 | 1.240 |
| 1982 | NYY | 10 | 10 | .500 | 3.66 | 30 | 26 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 186.2 | 190 | 84 | 76 | 11 | 34 | 54 | 1.200 |
| 1986 | NYY | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2.93 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70.2 | 73 | 27 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 28 | 1.245 |
| 1987 | NYY | 13 | 6 | .684 | 4.03 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 187.2 | 212 | 95 | 84 | 12 | 47 | 63 | 1.380 |
| 1988 | NYY | 9 | 8 | .529 | 4.49 | 35 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 176.1 | 221 | 96 | 88 | 11 | 46 | 81 | 1.514 |
| 1989 | NYY | 2 | 7 | .222 | 5.80 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63.2 | 87 | 45 | 41 | 6 | 22 | 18 | 1.712 |
| 26 Yrs | 288 | 231 | .555 | 3.34 | 760 | 700 | 22 | 162 | 46 | 4 | 4710.1 | 4783 | 2017 | 1749 | 302 | 1259 | 2245 | 1.283 | |
| NYY (8 yrs) | 91 | 60 | .603 | 3.59 | 214 | 203 | 7 | 53 | 12 | 0 | 1367.0 | 1456 | 621 | 545 | 80 | 324 | 483 | 1.302 | |
| CHW (7 yrs) | 82 | 80 | .506 | 2.95 | 237 | 219 | 5 | 56 | 21 | 3 | 1493.1 | 1362 | 573 | 490 | 99 | 460 | 888 | 1.220 | |
| LAD (6 yrs) | 87 | 42 | .674 | 2.97 | 182 | 174 | 6 | 37 | 11 | 1 | 1198.0 | 1169 | 460 | 396 | 64 | 296 | 649 | 1.223 | |
| CAL (4 yrs) | 24 | 32 | .429 | 4.40 | 85 | 76 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 489.1 | 610 | 263 | 239 | 42 | 125 | 143 | 1.502 | |
| CLE (2 yrs) | 2 | 11 | .154 | 3.61 | 31 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 114.2 | 120 | 63 | 46 | 11 | 41 | 74 | 1.404 | |
| OAK (1 yr) | 2 | 6 | .250 | 6.19 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48.0 | 66 | 37 | 33 | 6 | 13 | 8 | 1.646 | |
Pinstripe Birthdays 