Downing, who came up as a young stud with the New York Yankees, even leading the American League with 217 strikeouts in 1964, was coming off of three disappointing years between 1968 and 1970, splitting that last year between the Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers.
On February 10th of 1971 however, he was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Andy Kosco, and all Downing would go on to do is post a record of 20-9, along with a 2.68 earned run average with a league-leading five shutouts over 37 appearances, all but one starts.
Easily his best season in the Big Leagues, Downing would slip somewhat the following year, but through no fault of his own as he’d post a record of 9-9 with a very nice 2.98 ERA over 30 starts, which included four shutouts.
He’d pitch another five decent seasons for the Dodgers, through the 1977 campaign, before retiring with a record of 123-107, with 24 shutouts and 1639 strikeouts over 405 appearances, with 317 of them starts between 1961 and 1977.