THE OLD GUYS STILL HAVE IT : At Age 45, Tommy John of the Yankees Is Still Winning and Pitching ‘em Low and Outside

MINNEAPOLIS —  Supposedly, Tommy John didn’t throw hard enough to get a major-league offer.

OK, so he got the offer. But he’d never make it to the majors.

OK, so he made it. But he’d never be a consistent winner.

OK, so he won. But he’d never recover from severe ligament damage to his left elbow.

OK, so he recovered. But he’d never be a big winner again.

OK, so he had three 20-victory seasons. But he’d never keep pitching until his 40th birthday.

OK, so he passed 40. But, at 45, he’d surely never make it back this season.

OK, so he made it. But he’d never get anyone out.

OK, Tommy, enough already. The rest of us will be all dead and gone and you’ll probably still be pitching ‘em low and outside.

Tommy John has not only fooled all the experts, he’s just about outlived them all.

“People have doubted me since I was 19 years old, saying that I couldn’t throw hard or I wouldn’t belong in the majors,” said the New York Yankee left-hander, who started his 26th big-league season Tuesday with a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins. “Back in ‘61, when I signed, people in my hometown were saying, ‘Who are you trying to fool?’

“And here I am. I feel as strong now at 45-plus as I have in the last 10 years.”

Add the Twins to the list of people who have been fooled by John. They were at a loss to explain how he was getting them out.

Randy Bush: “It looks like he just lobs it up there but you can’t hit it.”

Kirby Puckett: “He didn’t throw me a strike all night. I was just swinging away.”

Dan Gladden: “If you ask the guys, I think they will say they were getting themselves out.”

To be sure, John didn’t get everybody out. The Twins had 10 hits and left the bases loaded twice.

“He’s been doing the same thing forever,” Twins manager Tom Kelly said. “He ran it away, sank it away, kept it down and outside. We got plenty of hits. We just couldn’t get any when we needed them. There was a lot of skill involved, a lot of know-how.”