Today on the blog we have a "not so missing" 1975 card for FUTURE National League Rookie of the Year Butch Metzger, who made his Big League debut during the 1974 season with the San Francisco Giants, appearing in 10 games:
Over those ten
relief appearances, Metzger went 1-0 with an earned run average at 3.55,
striking out five while walking 12 over 12.2 innings.
His
1975 season was more of the same, as he'd only appear in four games, now
for the San Diego Padres, again posting a record of 1-0 with an ERA at
7.71 in 4.2 innings.
In 1976 he had quite a rookie season,
appearing in 77 games and posting a very nice record of 11-4, with an
ERA of 2.92 over 123.1 innings, all in relief.
He closed out a league-leading 62 games that year, picking up 16 saves while striking out 89 with 52 walks.
Those numbers got him a shared Rookie of the Year Award, which he split with the Cincinnati Reds Pat Zachry.
Sadly,
that would end up being the high point of what turned out to be a short
Big League career, as Metzger would falter a bit in 1977, even getting
traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for John D'Acquisto and Pat Scanlon
and going a combined 4-2 over 75 appearances with a 3.59 ERA in 115.1
innings, with only seven saves.
He would find himself a New
York Met in 1978, appearing in 25 games while pitching to a 1-3 record
with a 6.51 ERA over 37.1 innings, the last innings he'd pitch in the
Majors, still only 26 years of age.
After a full season in the
Atlanta Braves system in 1980, he would call it a career, ending up
with a record of 18-9 with an ERA of 3.74 over 191 appearances and 293.1
innings pitched.
