Today I present to you all a 1970 "Then and Now" card for the "Little Potato", Camilo Pascual.
Check it out:
Pascual was at the tail end of a very nice 18-year career by 1970,
retiring after the 1971 season actually, but having his last Topps card
in the 1970 set.
He came up in 1954 as a 20-year old with the Washington Senators,
but it would take a few years before he hit his stride, eventually
posting two 20-win season (in 1962 and 1963), as well as leading the
American League in strikeouts three years in a row
between 1961-1963, with a high of 221 the first year of that run.
He also led the league in shutouts three times, with a high of
eight during the 1961 season, while also winning 15 or more games five
times and posting a sub-3.00 ERA three times.
All told, by the time he retired after nine games with the
Cleveland Indians in 1971, he finished with a 174-170 career record,
with a 3.63 earned run average and 2167 strikeouts over 529 games and
2930.2 innings of work.
Perhaps if I can find a usable photo of him as an Indian from 1971 I'll whip up a "career capper" card in the near future.
We shall see…