Sunday, March 3, 2019

1976 SPECIAL- NOLAN RYAN AND FRANK TANANA

Here was a fun card to create, a 1976 special featuring what was a powerful one-two punch for the California Angels, flame-throwers Nolan Ryan and Frank Tanana:


The two pitchers combined for 455 strikeouts during the 1975 season, while posting 30 wins and 10 shutouts, with Tanana leading the league with 269 K’s while Ryan had a “down” year with only 186.
Both would keep it up over the next three seasons before Ryan became a record-breaking free agent in 1980, heading for Houston, while Tanana developed arm troubles, becoming a “pitcher” instead of just a “thrower”, successfully pitching through the 1993 season.
Together the duo pitched for 48 combined Big League seasons, striking out over 8000 batters, while winning 564 games between them.
Sadly for the Angels, the bulk of it was away from Anaheim.
Nevertheless, incredible.