If
we’re gonna talk nicknames of players in the 1970’s, we’re going to
have to make one up for “Big Daddy” Rick Reuschel, who was the Chicago
Cubs anchor after Fergie Jenkins headed to Texas in 1974:
I used the 1978 template since Reuschel was coming off of a 20-win 1977 campaign, finishing third in the Cy Young arms race.
He posted a 20-10 record with a very nice 2.79 earned run average over
39 appearances, 37 of which were starts, including four shutouts.
His career would seemingly sputter in the early-80’s after a brief time
with the New York Yankees in 1981. So much so that he’d be out of
baseball all of 1982 before coming back with his original team, the
Cubs.
Suddenly, the man was an effective starter again, as he reeled off
another ten years with the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants,
even posting win totals of 19 and 17 as a 39/40 year old in 1988 and
1989.
By the time he was finally done after the 1991 season, he finished with a
record of 214 and 191, with a nice 3.37 ERA over 557 appearances, with
26 shutouts, three All-Star game nods and two Gold Gloves, BOTH won
after the age of 35!