FanHouse Tommy John

The medical procedure known as "Tommy John surgery" has always been considered a last resort: When a Major League Baseball pitcher suffers a career-threatening elbow injury, an elbow ligament can be replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body, possibly prolonging the pitcher's career.

But now something shocking is happening: Some parents are asking doctors to give their kids Tommy John surgery even when they're not injured, simply because they think it'll give their kids stronger throwing arms.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)

Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.

The 2009 Hall of Fame headlines rightfully belong to Rickey Henderson, who was elected the first year he was eligible, and Jim Rice, who was elected the very last year he was eligible. As for everyone else, well, there's always next year, right?

The short answer: it depends.

In Tommy John's case, no, there is no next year. Like Rice, this was John's 15th year on the ballot, the most that the Baseball Writers Association of America allows before ruling a player ineligible to be included on future ballots. Now, the only way John will ever be inducted is if the Veterans Committee votes him in -- that's the same committee that has inducted exactly one player since 2001.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is expanding to include the giant resume of Rickey Henderson. Much to the chagrin of Corky Simpson -- who is "not a Rickey guy" -- Henderson easily cake-walked to induction in his first year of eligibility, garnering a whopping 94.8 percent of the vote.

Joining the stolen base, walks, and runs scored king will be Red Sox slugger, Jim Rice.

Everyone likes to debate whether their favorite player is worthy of the Hall of Fame, but there are fewer than 600 people in this country who actually get to make that decision. Later this afternoon, the esteemed Baseball Writers Association of America will make their collective opinion known, revealing the results of this year's voting.

Only 23 players appeared on this year's ballot, the fewest ever, although voters are free to vote for any of the 60 players who are eligible. There are too many eligible candidates to mention here, but here are some names you should be looking for during today's announcement.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

The 2009 Hall of Fame ballot was released Monday, and with it is certain to come heated debate right up until and after the voting results are revealed on Jan. 12, 2009. This year's class of candidates is similar to last year's, in that it's a shallow group.

There is only one sure-fire Hall of Famer among the 23 candidates, which means this is a critical vote for the borderline players who have been up for election on multiple occasions. Now is the time for those borderline guys to get over the top or make a big push to lay the groundwork for election in future years.

After the jump is a breakdown of the ballot, complete with what I think will happen and what should happen with this year's class of Cooperstown contenders.

On Thursday of last week, Tom Glavine returned to the mound for the Atlanta Braves for the first time since June 10th. Things didn't go very well, as the 300-game winner gave up seven runs in four innings, and still felt pain in his elbow after the game. It's because of this pain in his elbow that we now know Glavine has pitched his last game in 2008, as he's going to be shut down for the season.

The real question is, will Thursday's start against the Cubs be the last of Tommy's career. He's scheduled to visit with Dr. James Andrews next week, and the results of his tests there will determine what Glavine decides to do.

"All the discussions I've had, and the MRI I had before, were that it's my flexor tendon," Glavine said. "The soreness I have now is the same soreness I had then. You can pinpoint a needlehead as to where the pain is, and it just puts me through the roof when you touch it, so it's very similar in that regard. There have been some discussions about what my ligament might look like, but I think there's a very low percentage that there might be something wrong with my ligament.

"And if there was, honestly, I'd leave it alone and I'd be done. I wouldn't come back from that kind of surgery now. I'd fix the flexor tendon and leave the ligament alone and live the rest of my life."