Today's blog post has a "not so missing" 1975 card for former New York Mets pitcher Nino Espinosa, who made his Big League debut with two games in 1974 at the age of 20:
Espinosa
threw nine innings in that time, allowing five runs for a 5.00 earned
run average while not factoring in a decision, starting one of those
games.
He'd be back in 1975, when he went 0-1 with an 18.00 earned
run average over three innings in another two games, giving up eight hits
and six runs.
He would fare much better in 1976, going 4-4
with a respectable 3.67 ERA over 12 appearances, five of them starts,
throwing 41.2 innings.
Over the next three years, he would be a
solid starter for both the Mets in 1977 and 1978, then the Philadelphia
Phillies in 1979 when he'd top 10+ wins each season, with a high of 14
in 1979, tossing over 200 innings each time.
Sadly for him
though, 1980 would see him appear in only 12 games for the eventual
World Champion Phillies, as he would finish with a record of 3-5 with a
3.77 ERA before splitting what turned out to be his last season in the
Big Leagues in 1981.
In that final season, still only 27 years
of age, he'd play for both the Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays,
appearing in 14 games, going 2-5 with an ERA of 6.15 over 73.2 innings
of work, apparently leaving the game for good shortly after.
All
told, he finished his Major League career with a record of 44-55 over
eight seasons, with an ERA at 4.17 over 140 games and 820.1 innings
pitched, with 24 complete games and five shutouts along the way.
