Terre Haute native Tommy John watches very little Major League Baseball anymore, even though he spent 26 seasons pitching in the bigs with six different teams from 1963 through 1989.
A 1961 graduate of Gerstmeyer High School, where he was a multi-sport standout (once scoring a school-record 47 points in basketball against Bedford) and earning valedictorian honors, the 6-foot-3, left-handed John racked up 288 regular-season victories during his MLB career.
His first two seasons were with the Cleveland franchise, then known as the Indians.
Now 79 and living in Sarasota, Fla., John was informed by yours truly that a young southpaw pitcher named Timmy Herrin, who calls Terre Haute his hometown (even though he was born in Munster), is having an enjoyable start to his MLB career 60 years after his debut.
Also with the Cleveland franchise, but now known as the Guardians.
Through Thursday, the 6-6, 230-pound Herrin had pitched 6.2 innings with a 1-0 record, a 4.05 earned-run average and 10 strikeouts through six games as a middle reliever. He’d allowed three walks and one home run.
Herrin, 26, had allowed runs in only game out of his six. That one occurred April 5 when the Oakland Athletics’ Jesús Aguilar belted a two-out, three-run bomb off him to tie the score in the eighth inning at Oakland Coliseum. At least the Guardians eventually won 6-4 in 10 innings and Herrin got a no-decision.
Back to John, the Terre Haute legend doesn’t view much 2023 MLB on television — he prefers professional golf — because of how much the game has changed since he stopped playing. But he said he’ll start following Herrin when he picks up a newspaper now and then. (I bet he can get a free online subscription to the Tribune-Star if he tells our circulation department who he is.)
Since John was not immediately available for comment for my “Herrin making MLB debut” feature that ran April 2, he graciously offered a little Hautean-to-Hautean advice for Herrin when I requested it.
“I would love to see him do well and go as far as his ability takes him,” John said. “I hope he remembers, it’s a game. You’re going to have good days and you’re going to have bad days. And the days you don’t do very well, you sit back and think: ‘If I had it to do over, what would I do differently to make it come out better?’”
In other words, try to learn from your mistakes, which Herrin has done a good job of avoiding for the most part.
“It’s not rocket science,” John continued. “You try to make good pitches. If you make good pitches, you’re probably going to get outs.”
Herrin has told me before that his fastball generally ranges from 95 to 98 mph and his most effective pitch is a “slider/cutter combo,” so John isn’t surprised that Herrin has been doing well.
And if that’s what keeps working for Herrin, John suggested “you keep doing it.”
Hey, who’s going to argue with Tommy John about pitching? Not me.
Undoubtedly Terre Haute’s best major-league player since 1950, John went 0-2 as a rookie with Cleveland in 1963. But in 20.1 innings over six games (three starts), he finished with a respectable 2.21 ERA. He struck out nine batters and allowed six walks and one home run.
John’s first MLB outing came Sept. 6 of that season, a 7-2 Indians loss at the Washington Senators. He pitched one inning of relief of starter Dick Donovan in the seventh and permitted zero earned runs. Ted Abernathy relieved John to start the eighth.
The only home run John allowed as a rookie was a two-run shot to the Los Angeles Angels’ Bob Perry on Sept. 21, 1963, in front of 1,617 fans in Cleveland Stadium. John had started against the Angels’ Dean Chance and took the loss, dropping him to 0-2.
Fortunately, Tommy John had 25 more seasons remaining to enjoy more success after 1963.
Besides Timmy Herrin, one thing John likes about modern-day baseball is the installation of the pitch clock.
“That’s fine,” he emphasized. “The faster you can get those guys out there to throw the ball, the better chance you have of getting outs.”
But John will never be fine with how viciously batters swing the wood in the 2020s, so often trying to hit home runs.
“They’re talking about ‘launch angles’ and all that,” John explained. “I don’t want to know about launch angles.
“I could care less. I want to throw the ball. I want to get guys out. If they hit it, they hit it. Hopefully, they hit it at somebody and they catch it.”
Herrin has the very capable Terry Francona as his manager with the Guardians, so he’s not desperate for advice. But a few words of wisdom from Tommy John never hurt any pitcher.
Full article can be found at: https://www.tribstar.com/sports/david-hughes-herrins-success-with-guardians-triggers-reminders-of-john-debuting-with-cleveland/article_1e563116-d98f-11ed-9364-df08a3d191ec.html