Ok now.
Today we move on in my new "Expanded League
Leaders" thread to the American League and it's leading batters for the
1972 season on a 1973 card:
Of course, we start
off with Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who won his second of what was to be
seven batting titles, hitting .318, the lowest average of any of his
titles, but still enough to get the job done.
Following him is
a bit of a surprise, which really only goes to show you the impact of
having expanded league leaders back then, as the second best hitter in
1972 for the Junior Circuit is "Sweet Lou" Piniella of the Kansas City
Royals, who hit .312 while leading the league with 33 doubles, leading
to his only All-Star birth.
Coming in third, just ten points
of a Triple Crown, was the Wampum Walloper" himself, Dick Allen, who of
course wound up with an MVP Award for his monster 1972 campaign when he
led the league in homers, RBIs, walks, on-base percentage and slugging
in his first season in the South Side.
I believe that if he collected about eight more hits over the course of the season he would have taken the Triple Crown!
Nevertheless, his 1972 season was brilliant, adding the MVP hardware to a Rookie of the Year Award of 1964.
Well, there you have it! Onto the next expanded leage-leader card, what will it be?
Stay tuned...
