Monday, September 18, 2017

MISSING IN ACTION (SORT OF)- 1979 ALAN WIRTH

Here’s a card that wasn’t necessarily “missing”, but should have been part of the 1979 set in my opinion as presented today, a solo card for Oakland A’s pitcher Alan Wirth:


Wirth was actually on the A’s multi-player rookie cards at the end of the set, those ugly as sin black and white cards that truly had no business being as such in 1979 (really? No color?).
But when you take a look at his 1978 season, you can make the argument that he deserved a solo card based on his 16 games, 14 of which were starts, with a 5-6 record and 3.43 earned run average over 81.1 innings pitched.
To me THAT is not someone who gets a slot on a multi-player rookie card, that is enough action to get a dedicated card of his own.
So here it is, all these years later.
Sadly for Wirth, that action in 1979 is the bulk of his Major League career, as he’d appear in five and two games the following two season, picking up one more win before his big league career came to a close.
All told, he finished with a record of 6-6, with a 3.78 E.R.A., 39 strikeouts and one shutout over 23 appearances and 95.1 innings pitched.