a moment for tommy john

tommy john passed away yesterday, which was not a surprise given how much attention his health had received lately. john penned a "farewell" message to his fans during the yankees' oldtimers' weekend just over a week ago, and it was picked up by nearly every media outlet that i came across. 

he obviously associated himself, or a large part of himself, with the yankees as he had two stints playing for them and won more games while in pinstripes than in any of his other stops. to me, however, he was always a dodger.

when i think of numbers, it's john who is number 25. being a member of the 1978 topps dodgers 

asserts that "privilege", with very few exceptions.

being included in that set as a dodger means that i have all of john's topps flagship cards, thanks to my "evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers" mini-collection. as i've done for some other recent passings, i've compiled the full run of his primary cards in the topps sets. in john's case, that means cards from 1964 through 1989

for others, i've tiled the cards into a single image, but there are just too many cards here to do that effectively. john was left out of the traded sets each time he switched teams - 1982, 1985, and 1986 - but he does have a sweet 1979 topps burger king yankee card that serves the purpose of a "traded" or update set. he also was featured on the yankees' 1982 team leader card as well as a 1983 super veteran card and one of the 1984 career leader cards. the latter two speak to his longevity in the game, a remarkable feat especially given the fact that he had his namesake surgery (what turned out to be) so early in his career.

he began his career in 1963 (no card) and ended it in 1989. he was left out of all major 1990 releases, although i did make a "final tribute" for him years ago

the stats on the back of that card show his 288 career wins and 760 games pitched. he is one of eight men to have started at least 700 games as a pitcher. the top 15 pitchers on that list are all in the hall of fame except for john and roger clemens. yes, he was a stat compiler due to his longevity, but i think he is worthy of the hall of fame. he's in mine.

john is the ninth member of the 1978 topps dodgers to pass away, joining davey lopes, jerry grote, vic davalillo, don sutton, tom lasorda, lance rautzhan, johnny oates, and glenn burke. i am sad to have lost another member of the team of my youth, but happy that i was able to witness the majority of his career. rest in peace 25.