Here’s
the last of my Don Drysdale “Fantasy Cards” where I wondered what his
cards would have looked like had he been able to play more than his
relatively short 14-year career that spanned between 1956 and 1969:
Drysdale, though he did eventually make the Hall of Fame, retired with a
209-166 career record, with a 2.95 earned run average and 2486
strikeouts. Excellent numbers of course, but arguably borderline stats
for the Hall (think Jack Morris, Luis Tiant, etc).
So imagine if he was able to tack on some more wins and maybe even reach
3000 strikeouts, which at the time of his retirement only the great
Walter Johnson had done in Major League history.
The man WAS a beast though, intimidating batters along contemporary
hurler Bob Gibson like few before or since, five times leading the
National League in plunked batsmen, just to let them know who was boss.
Love guys like that!
Only wish we would have been able to see him pitch more, and more
importantly regale us with stories a lot longer than his short 56 years,
shockingly passing away in 1993.
“Big D”, Don Drysdale.