Here’s
a “missing” 1974 card for former pitcher Wayne Simpson, who burst on to
the Major League scene in 1970 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, but
because of injuries never found that initial success later on:
Four years removed from his fantastic rookie year, Simpson found himself
in Kansas City, trying to hang on and pitch through injuries that
derailed his career, one that saw him go 14-3 with a 3.02 earned run
average and league-leading .824 winning percentage as a member of the
pennant winning Reds team in 1970.
For the Royals in 1973 he would go 3-4, with a 5.73 ERA over 16
appearances, 10 of which were starts, with a complete game and 29 K’s
over 59.2 innings.
Sadly for him, he would only pitch a handful of games in 1975 for the
Phillies, then make somewhat of a comeback in 1977 with the California
Angels, which saw him go 6-12 with a 5.83 ERA over 27 games, 23 as a
starter.
But that would be it for him, and at the age of 28 he would never see Major League action again.
His 1970 season was one of those rookie splashes up there with Von
McDaniel, Mark Fidrych and Herb Score, enough so that he would still be a
figure baseball magazines would write about years later as far as a
young arm making an immediate impact.
Sadly like so many of those other young studs, it was something that they couldn’t maintain through no fault of their own.