Saturday, July 17, 2021

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1973 A.L. STOLEN BASES

Rolling along in my on-going "expanded league leaders" card series, we move on to the 1972 American League stolen base leaders:

 
We begging with the top base thief in the Junior Circuit, Oakland A's speedster Bert Campaneris, who led the league with his 52 stolen bases, the sixth and final time during his career he would take that crown.
"Campy" would end his 19-year Big League career with 649 steals, topping 50+ steals seven times, with a high of 62 in both 1968 and 1969.
Next up in the stolen base race, falling just one short of the lead is Dave Nelson of the Texas Rangers, whose 51 steals were easily his career-high.
Nelson played the first full season of his career in 1972, the first in Texas for the relocated Rangers (formerly Washington Senators), and though he'd hit only .226 he made it count, also walking 67 times.
He would steal 43 bases the following season while hitting a career-high .286, making his only All-Star team, but would be out of baseball by 1977 after to abbreviated seasons with the Kansas City Royals.
Speaking of the Royals, the third place finisher in stolen bases that year would be Freddie Patek, who swiped 33 bases after stealing 49 the year before.
Patek would eventually be a league-leader himself in 1977, stealing a career-best 53 to help Kansas City come in first in the West, while finishing up his career with 385 between 1968 and 1981.
There it is folks! The top three stolen base leaders in the American league during the 1972 season, shown in all their glory on an expanded 1973 league-leader card.
Hope you're enjoying this so far!