Moving on to pitching categories now in my on-going "Expanded League Leaders" thread for 1973, we have the National League's top three pitchers in terms of earned run average:
Of
course, if we're talking the N.L. and pitching performances for 1972,
it's all about Philadelphia Phillies ace and future Hall of Famer Steve
Carlton, who had himself a Triple Crown year after coming over from the
St. Louis Cardinals.
The lefty paced the Senior Circuit with a
sparkling 1.97 ERA over 41 starts, tossing an incredible 346.1 innings
and posting eight shutouts, with 27 wins and 310 strikeouts.
Needless
to say, you'll be seeing Mr. Carlton in the first spot on future
"Expanded League Leader" cards over the next few weeks!
Coming
in second is someone you may have forgotten about, or perhaps not even
known about, former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Gary Nolan, who was right
behind Carlton with his own 1.99 ERA, which he ended up with after 25
appearances, all starts, with two shutouts and 90 strikeouts in 176
innings of work.
The righty helped the Reds make it all the
way to the World Series with his 15-5 record, leading the team in wins
as well as his crisp ERA.
Coming in third in the N.L. ERA
chase is another future Hall of Fame pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers great
Don Sutton, who posted a career-best 2.08 ERA along with a
league-leading nine shutouts over 33 starts and 272.2 innings of work.
He
also topped 200 strikeouts for the fourth time in seven seasons as a
Big League pitcher, on his way to over 3500 before he was done.
Next up, the American League's best ERA guys, featuring another two future HOFers and one who many have made the case for!