2,600+. That’s the number of major leaguers who have undergone Tommy John surgery. And that doesn’t even account for the countless players from the minor leagues, colleges, or high schools who have benefited from the procedure. People have poured out tributes for the one person whose name became synonymous with a second opportunity for thousands of pitchers. But the mourning has suddenly taken an unexpected turn.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The baseball community argues that despite the tributes, Tommy John has yet to be honored the right way. And one MLB analyst has weighed in on the debate with their blunt remarks.
“I feel like after someone passes, we tend to be more sentimental about them,” former Twins player and media personality Trevor Plouffe recently said on Chris Rose Sports.
“You talk about impact on the game of baseball, there’s maybe no other bigger impact that’s ever taken place. You can say Jackie Robinson, and then it’s probably Tommy John.”
John isn’t merely famous because he was the first player to successfully undergo the UCL reconstruction surgery. The pitcher recorded 288 wins and 2,245 strikeouts in his 26-season MLB career. He made his debut at the age of 18 in 1963 and got his first elbow cortisone injection the same year. While it was good enough for the time being, the issue didn’t resolve.
By 1974, he’d received 40 cortisone injections.
It got worse, and Dr. Frank Jobe diagnosed him with loose chips in his elbow and recommended surgical removal. He took the risk because no pitcher before him had gone through the surgery. And such an elbow injury meant the end of a pitching career back then.
Still, he went through the procedure, and it was successful. John returned to the mound in 1976, defying medical expectations. 164 of his wins came after the surgery. He also earned three of his four All-Star selections and two Cy Young runner-ups in the second half of his career.
Despite all that, he was never inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“The fact that he is not in the Hall of Fame really makes my stomach turn a little bit,” Chris Rose said to Trevor Plouffe in the podcast.
“It is a museum after all, and we always say, ‘Well, you can’t tell the story without so-and-so.’ How the heck can you tell the story of baseball, the last 50 years, without the name Tommy John?”
Plouffe pointed out that he would probably receive the honor now, but that makes him even sadder.
Not only did John revolutionize the UCL reconstruction treatment, along with Dr. Jobe, who should also be inducted per the podcasters, but he had a remarkable career.
John had the second-most wins of any pitcher since 1900 who was not elected to the Hall of Fame. From 1995 through 2009, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he never received more than 31.7% of the votes, falling short of the 75% required for election.
Tommy John retired in 1989. Then went on to live until he was 83 before passing away from colon cancer on August 15, 2026.
The analyst duo didn’t have an ounce of doubt about John being inducted into the Hall of Fame in the near future. And many baseball entities like Willie Randolph, his former New York Yankees teammate, along with thousands of fans, have urged for the same. But Tommy John not receiving it already is the point of the argument. And the baseball community is certainly not happy about it.