HOVG Heroes Finale - Tommy John's Inaugural Induction into the Hall of Very Good
Hopefully, you've been following the HOVG Heroes series (FBJ was featured as a contributor). Some of the posts presented made me laugh and some made me a bit sentimental but inevitably, each one kept me coming back for more.
The series culminated today with an official inaugural induction into the Hall of Very Good, complete with plaque and all. Shawn Anderson put a lot of effort into this and, as a reader, I have appreciated those efforts. As a blogger, the series has given me some ideas for the future. Thanks, Shawn.
Well, here it is... the inaugural inductee into the Hall of Very Good is none other than Tommy John.
Tommy John didn't make any of our All-Time teams... he was a journeyman (he played for six teams over the course of his 26 year career) so he didn't really have a team to hang his hat on and he missed time in the prime of his career to have the revolutionary surgery that bears his name so his best decade didn't really stack up.
His best years were spent with the White Sox, having posted a 2.95 ERA over the course of 7 seasons with the Chi-Sox and that is certainly respectable and worthy of consideration for the White Sox - a team that doesn't have a great history of pitching - but he ranks only 16th in franchise history in innings pitched and 18th in wins. I don't think he deserves to crack the starting rotation for the White Sox All-Time Team but an argument could be made if/when we expand our All-Time by Franchise rotations to four starting pitchers.
He would have been an honorable mention, at best, for the 1970's NL team (a decade ripe with pitching in the NL - check out our 1970's NL squad).
I won't get any further into Tommy John's bio. Instead, I'll ask that you check out the Official HOVG post here.
The series culminated today with an official inaugural induction into the Hall of Very Good, complete with plaque and all. Shawn Anderson put a lot of effort into this and, as a reader, I have appreciated those efforts. As a blogger, the series has given me some ideas for the future. Thanks, Shawn.
Well, here it is... the inaugural inductee into the Hall of Very Good is none other than Tommy John.
Tommy John didn't make any of our All-Time teams... he was a journeyman (he played for six teams over the course of his 26 year career) so he didn't really have a team to hang his hat on and he missed time in the prime of his career to have the revolutionary surgery that bears his name so his best decade didn't really stack up.
His best years were spent with the White Sox, having posted a 2.95 ERA over the course of 7 seasons with the Chi-Sox and that is certainly respectable and worthy of consideration for the White Sox - a team that doesn't have a great history of pitching - but he ranks only 16th in franchise history in innings pitched and 18th in wins. I don't think he deserves to crack the starting rotation for the White Sox All-Time Team but an argument could be made if/when we expand our All-Time by Franchise rotations to four starting pitchers.
He would have been an honorable mention, at best, for the 1970's NL team (a decade ripe with pitching in the NL - check out our 1970's NL squad).
I won't get any further into Tommy John's bio. Instead, I'll ask that you check out the Official HOVG post here.
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