From 1981: Yankees pitcher Tommy John

Get them hot. Get them hot. Nice and hot. Hey. Yeah, Brooke said. Hey, how about a yearbook? Players, caps, t-shirts, buy one.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and to baseball fans, days without action and the accompanying flow of statistics hit as empty as a desert before dawn. [CRACK OF THE BAT] The long, undulant rhythms of baseball have been disturbed, and there's been a good deal of stumbling in their re-establishment. Veteran players, the long layoff has been a blessing of rest, valuable time lost, or will be something as odd as the situation itself. That had a little spin on it, isn't it.

For 38-year-old Yankee ace, Tommy John, each day of the strike was a fast flow of sand in an hourglass nearing emptiness. Straight. Right there, too. Four-seamer now going to pop in your heart.

That's our deep pitch.

Out.

All I was thinking about was, let's get this strike over with so we can get back out playing baseball, because unfortunately, my golf handicap was going down, but my baseball handicap was going up.

Do you think that you and the other pitchers will, for the first time, have arms of steel in September, instead of arms of old rope?

Well, I think, usually, you start getting some tired arms about July-- July, August. And then in September, when the cooler weather starts to come, it seems like your arms start to bounce back. And pitchers more, usually, will, if they're having a good year, will probably have a good September, because it's like you get that second breath, you get your second wind. And that's because you've been working since February, and you're in such great shape that your body bounces back when that cool weather starts to come. And--

This year will be different. Well, this year, when we start playing the World Series about Thanksgiving time, maybe the arms might start going dead again. Ha. Look at that. That cracked bat's a minus one. [LAUGHTER] Cracking a bat will be [INDISTINCT] to the minus.

Equally aware that maturity is only a step from obscurity is a 37-year-old Lou Piniella. I know that players on our ball club that are older always start off a little slower after spring training, and finally our ball club starts building up momentum in June. So here we are under the same circumstances, and I feel it's going to be a little tougher for the Yankee club to play well early.

Did you miss it? At first, I didn't. Then I started missing it as a fan, because I enjoy watching box scores. I enjoy watching games on television, just like everybody else. Myrcene. That's my idol right there. You don't believe.

I miss being with the guys and the camaraderie, the little remarks and the little cuts, and the digs and all this.

Everybody wants to have a Tommy John body.

A body like a well-maintained classic car, has spent a lot of time in the shop. A ruptured arm, an operation, and a year and a half's layoff in the mid 1970s have left him at last polished, stylish, and aware of the cost of those things.

It's probably one of the most unnatural, most violent motions that you can make. When you take a real high speed film of your arm, the muscles, the joints dislocate. They want to pull apart. Your shoulder muscle wants to-- or your shoulder socket, I mean, wants to pull out-- your elbow socket wants to pull out. In my case, it did.

Did you think during the layoff about the various damages to your arm? Do you think about it, or do you stop thinking about it when you begin to pitch?

No, it's very aware. Each time you see a certain ballplayer, it brings back flashbacks in your mind. Barry Foote said he was on deck the night that I hurt my arm. Somebody would say Hal Breeden, they would bring back that shattering experience of things, bring back memories in your mind. And sure, I know that my arm could go my next pitch.

You all right, John? Good job, Johnny. [INDISTINCT SPEECH]

Back from the rack of medically dictated inaction, he has had, if not the resilience of youth, statistics any youth could envy, three 20-game seasons in four years. Last week, he was chosen to open the Yankees second season, and did it with seven innings of apparently easy shutout ball. [CHEERING] Paid for in privacy. This is an absolute must between starts.

The arm as responsive as a fine violin and as easily damaged, it is constantly checked by its owner. Now older players like Tommy John are more sensible, but don't they also have a harder time?

Basically, they do have a harder time because their body is older and it takes their body systems a little bit longer time to regroup and to train.

Yankee trainer, Gene Monahan. Tommy was in pretty good shape, although he hadn't thrown competitively. No one has. And that's a big difference between just working out on your own, throwing in the backyard or down at the high school, or even out here at Yankee Stadium to a catcher. So we had to simulate competitiveness here, and it's helped.

I'm not one to take a lot of time off. I like to keep throwing. I like to think that pitching is a lot like golf. You will never be a good golfer if you only hit 25 balls a day. [LOCKER ROOM CHATTER] I haven't found anything that I'd rather do yet than play baseball, and until that time comes along, I guess I'll still stick around and be going out there at the ancient age of 38, 39, 40, and keep throwing ground balls and try to keep winning.