1980 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"Baseball's Bionic Man. A transplant of a tendon from his right forearm to his injured left elbow in '74 saved his career. Tommy is talkative, and very popular with the press.
'Ask him what time it is,' says former manager Bob Lemon, 'and he'll tell you how to make a watch.' Tommy signed a $1.4 million pact with the Yankees as a free agent. He picked the Yanks over Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Kansas City because 'it was important for me to be with a winning team.'
Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, he made his big league debut way back in '63. He was part of one of the biggest trades in history in 1965.
A sinker-ball pitcher, Tommy forces enemy batters to pound the ball into the ground."
-Jim Hawkins, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1980 Edition
"After completing a very successful first run on the Yankee baseball network, the saga of the Yankee with the Bionic Arm is assured a second season. As if winning 21 games and earning the American League's second lowest ERA of 2.96 wasn't enough, Tommy will once again be scrutinized by those who pay close attention to his work on the mound. He will be trying to improve the ratings, as impossible as that may seem, in his usual easy-throwing style.
But Tommy John kind of feels for the impossible, or shall we say the improbable. In 1975, Dr. Frank Jobe operated on T.J.'s left elbow and told him he may never pitch again. For a year and a half, Tommy exercised and worked his arm until it felt up to the task. In 1976, while with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was awarded the N.L.'s Comeback Player of the Year award for doing the so-called impossible. In 1977, he went on to win 20 ... and the ratings rose again.
Last season, Tommy won at least 20 for only the second time in his career. He was also picked as the first-ever American League Pitcher of the Month, going 4-0 with a 1.12 ERA in April. With that kind of initial showing, high ratings are again expected for the Yankee with the Bionic Arm. And then, hopefully, he can call his award-winning presentation That Championship Season, circa 1980."
-The New York Yankees Official 1980 Yearbook
"After spending seven years in the National League with the Dodgers, Tommy returned to the American League with the Yankees last year, and he was a huge success. He won 21 games, the second time he had won 20 (20-7 in 1977), making him second in the American League in wins. His 2.96 ERA was second in the league to Guidry's 2.78, he was tied for fourth in games started (36), tied for second in complete games (17), second in innings pitched (276.1), tied for sixth with three shutouts, and sixth in winning percentage at .692.
Tommy started off hot for the Yankees, winning his first nine decisions before losing to the Indians on May 26. He also won 10 of his first 11. TJ recorded four straight complete-game wins at the end of his nine-game streak (May 5-20) including his best performance of the year, a 2-0, 2-hit shutout of the Red Sox at Fenway on May 20. Prior to those four complete games, he made his only relief appearance of the year, May 1 in Anaheim, when he struck out Rod Carew and Don Baylor with runners on first and third, one out in the ninth inning of a 7-7 game; he finished up and won 12-8 in 11 innings.
TJ finished the year winning three straight after breaking a three-game losing streak, all three losses being complete games, that matched his longest losing streak as a Yankee, and came on the heels of a five-game winning streak. Tommy was the American League's first-ever Pitcher of the Month, going 4-0 with a 1.12 ERA in April. He was the AL's Player of the Week May 14-20 with a 2-0 record and a 1.50 ERA.
Tommy yielded only nine home runs last year, lowest among AL starters. He had his best 1979 success against the champ Orioles; he was 3-0 against them with a 2.51 ERA. He was 2-0 over the Royals and Rangers. His 1979 strikeout high was seven, done three times. Tommy was named the left-handed pitcher on the U.P.I AL All-Star team. By winning 20 games with the Yankees, TJ became one of eight pitchers to win 20 games in both leagues, the others being Jerry Koosman, Andy Messersmith, Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins, Joe McGinnity, Jesse Tannehill and Al Orth.
Other than his '75 season on the disabled list, TJ now has had double figures in wins 10 straight years and 13 of 14. He was 87-42 (.674) in his seven National League seasons with the Dodgers and is now 105-100 in the AL. Tommy had his best NL year in 1977, going 20-7 with a 2.78 ERA. He had an eight-game win streak that year and won 14 of his final 17 decisions. TJ finished second to Steve Carlton in the '77 Cy Young voting.
Tommy made one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history. He led the National League in winning percentage in 1973 and '74. In 1974 he was off to his best year and had a 13-3 mark when the injury came about. TJ ruptured a ligament in his left elbow on July 17, 1974 against Montreal, then underwent surgery on September 25, 1974 as a tendon from his right forearm was used in the reconstruction of his left elbow. The operation, performed by Dr. Frank Jobe, was the first of its kind; as a matter of fact, Jobe told Tommy he wouldn't pitch again.
After working hard through the 1975 season, running, exercising and undergoing therapy, TJ appeared in the Arizona Instructional League that year. Tommy came back in 1976 to record a 10-10 record with a 3.09 ERA and won National League Comeback Player of the Year honors. He also won the Fred Hutchinson Award that year.
Prior to coming to the Dodgers, he spent two years with Cleveland and seven years with the White Sox. TJ had a good year in 1965 with Chicago (10-5, 1.98 ERA); in early August, however, he was involved in a fight with Dick McAuliffe and suffered a broken collarbone, sidelining him for the season, after pitching in 25 games.
Tommy was a member of All-Star teams in 1968, '78 and '79. In the NL, he had his best success against the Dodgers' toughest opponents: he was 12-3 lifetime over the Reds and 8-2 over the Giants. He has 36 career shutouts. TJ has hurled four 2-hitters and his strikeout high is 13, done against the Reds on August 8, 1972. Although his nine-game win streak last year was his longest in one year, he had a 10-game win streak stretched over the end of '73 and the beginning of '74. In his first pro game, Tommy beat Baltimore 6-0 on 72 pitches. He had his best year in the minors in 1963 at Charleston (9-2, 1.61 ERA) to earn a promotion to Jacksonville and then to Cleveland.
Tommy graduated from Terre Haute Gerstmeyer High School where he received 35 scholarship offers, all in basketball. He attended Indiana State College in Terre Haute, and last winter was given the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor given to any Indiana State student.
An outstanding golfer, Tommy has his own celebrity golf tournament, in California, for the benefit of cancer research. He moved his home to New York, and stayed busy making charity and civic appearances last winter."
-New York Yankees 1980 Media Guide
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