Next up on the "1976 Project" that blog reader Jim and I have been mapping out is former relief pitcher Cecil Upshaw.
Check out the way my card for him came out:
Upshaw was finishing up a nine-year career at the end of the 1975
season, appearing in 29 games and 47.1 innings of work for the Chicago
White Sox.
He posted a 1-1 record with a 3.23 E.R.A., one save and 22
strikeouts over those appearances, and it certainly demands a card in my
book!
His finest Major League campaign was easily the 1969 season with
the National League West Champion Atlanta Braves, when he went 6-4 with a
2.91 earned run average, with 27 saves and 57 strikeouts over 62 games
and 105.1 innings.
His 1968 season wasn't too shabby as well! That year he went 8-7
with a very nice 2.47 E.R.A., 13 saves and 74 strikeouts over 52 games
and 116.2 innings, also all in relief.
Arm troubles slowed his career down a bit, and he even missed all of 1970.
But once back in 1971 he'd go on to pitch for the Braves, Astros, Indians, Yankees and White Sox.
He would finish with a 34-36 lifetime record with 86 saves, a 3.13
E.R.A., and 323 strikeouts in 348 games, all of them out of the 'pen.