Yankees: Tommy John battling COVID-19 while helping deny virus

Former Yankees pitcher Tommy John is battling the coronavirus.

Former New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers ace Tommy John has earned due praise for being gutsy enough to participate in the pioneering surgery that now bears his name, back when it was simply a risky invention.

But these days, he’s in a new kind of danger, one that he’s handling quite a bit differently.

John is currently hospitalized battling the coronavirus, though he still doesn’t seem to believe it’s a particular threat to him, even as he’s ducked repeatedly in and out of peril over the past few months.

Add the fact that his son is a vocal COVID-19 denier, and, as The Daily Beast proved, you have a recipe for trouble.

"“I’d leave right now if they’d let me walk out,” he said on Tuesday.Later, asked if the diagnosis made him nervous about his health, he responded: “You gotta be shitting me.”“You’re either going to live or you’re going to die,” he added."

Of course, this doesn’t come after an asymptomatic diagnosis of the dreaded disease; John has been hospitalized three times over the course of the past several months, battling dangerously low oxygen levels, yet still seems to think that the hospital is the cause of, not solution to, his problems.

The younger John’s viewpoints don’t need to be excoriated here, but just know that his rantings and ravings take aim mostly at those who gave “permission” for the virus to affect their mental state, rather than those — like his father — who’ve been very much infected with the virus.

We could pontificate for days and try to drum up the right words, but frankly, only one response is appropriate here.

Heartbreakingly, the piece ends with John’s current girlfriend saying she’ll make sure the pitcher gets the vaccine and plans not to tell his son of this development. The elder Tommy John doesn’t exactly endorse vaccination either, though, claiming he hasn’t touched a needle since he was eight years old.

Hopefully soon, we’re getting back to discussing John’s Hall of Fame case instead of these dire circumstances, which may turn tragic.

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