Dr. Frank Jobe, others honoured at baseball Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Former major league pitcher Tommy John was on hand, appropriately enough, as Dr. Frank Jobe was honoured at the baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Jobe was recognized for his impact on the sport. He developed the procedure known as Tommy John surgery when he fixed the left-hander’s elbow in 1974.

A day before Hank O’Day, Jacob Ruppert, and Deacon White were posthumously inducted into the shrine, Paul Hagen accepted the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.

Tom Cheek, the late Toronto announcer, was honoured with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting.

Cheek broadcast 4,306 consecutive Blue Jays games — including the club’s two World Series victories — from Toronto’s first contest until June 2, 2004.

For Blue Jays fans, Cheek’s most memorable call is his description of Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run in 1993, when his deep baritone voice shouted into the microphone: “Touch ’em all Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life.”

The Florida-born Cheek was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame last month, and was added to the Blue Jays’ Level of Excellence at Rogers Centre in 2005, the year he died.

Also honoured at Cooperstown was Thomas Tull, the CEO of Legendary Entertainment and producer of the Jackie Robinson biopic “42.”

“I can’t believe I’m sitting here next to Tommy John and Dr. Frank Jobe,” Tull said. “All these gentlemen have done for the game brought them to Cooperstown. I’m just thankful I’m here.”