There’s a whole lot that people don’t know about Tommy John.
Let’s start with the obvious: John should be in the Hall of Fame.
His career WAR averaged across Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus (and accounting for lost games due to labor unrest in 1972 and 1981) is an astronomical 83.6. That puts John in the direct company of pitching luminaries such as Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez, Mike Mussina and Robin Roberts. Among position players, that WAR puts him in the company of Ken Griffey Jr., Jeff Bagwell, Pete Rose and Joe DiMaggio.