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Major League Baseball pitching great Tommy John believes his public support of Donald Trump may be keeping him out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I’ve always said that you’re the first one to have this groundbreaking surgery [Tommy John surgery,] you also won 288 games and maybe this is not a question for you but for the people that vote on such things – why are you not in the Hall of Fame? You’re such a big part of baseball history,” ESPN and YES Network host Michael Kay asked on The Michael Kay Show. 

“Maybe because I voted for Donald Trump,” John responded. 

JOHN WAS ELIGIBLE TWICE DURING TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY

When Kay followed up, “You think that’s [why?]” John responded, “Probably. I don’t know, I have no idea. If I knew, and I could do something about it, I would do it, but I can’t,” the 81-year-old continued.

John’s 288 career wins should be an automatic entry into Cooperstown, as only Roger Clemens, who has been linked to steroids, and Bobby Matthews, who played all the way back in the 19th century, are the only pitchers with similar win totals not in the Hall. 

In addition to sheer statistics alone, let’s not forget that the National Baseball Hall of Fame also includes plenty of people who impacted the game. The fact that “Tommy John surgery” is so prevalent in the sport and people know EXACTLY what it means should signify some sort of baseball honor. 

Tom Glavine On Pitchers

TOMMY JOHN IS SYNONYMOUS WITH TOMMY JOHN ELBOW SURGERY

Although Tommy John was eligible for the Hall of Fame and came up short while eligible from 1995 to 2009, he believes that his support of Trump during the 2018 and 2020 Veterans Committee ballots may have hurt him. The Veterans Committee (now called the Eras Committee) consists of former players, managers and non-players who have different criteria than the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame voting standards. 

Before immediately dismissing or rolling your eyes over John’s Trump support reasoning, keep in mind that it was only two years ago when an Associated Press reporter refused to vote for Aaron Rodgers as the MVP that season because he was a “bad guy” and due to the Green Bay Packers quarterback’s right-of-center political leanings.

If you think about how divided and how much of a headache politics brought in 2018 and 2020, maybe Tommy John does have a point. 

SHOULD TOMMY JOHN BE IN THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME? TWEET ME: @TheGunzShow