On the blog today we add Joe "Hard Luck" Horlen to my long-running "Nicknames of the 1970s" thread, celebrating the hard-luck pitcher who'd have himself a very nice 12 year Major League career:
Horlen,
who pitched 11 of his 12 Big League careers with the Chicago White Sox
before one last season as an Oakland Athletic in 1972, was a solid
starter who would consistently post ERA's below 3.00, yet never seem to
get the support, leading to a pedestrian 116-117 career record which was
terribly not representative of his talents.
For example, in 1964 he posted a sparkling 1.88 ERA over 210 innings, only to finish with a record of 13-9 for the White Sox.
In 1966 he finished the season with an ERA of 2.43 over 37 appearances and 211 innings, only to finish with a record of 10-13.
The
only season where he seems to have gotten the help he needed from the
offense was in 1967 when he finished second in the A.L. Cy Young race,
posting a record of 19-7, leading the league with his 2.06 ERA and six
shutouts.
By the time he retired in 1967, his 116-117 record
did not represent his career, which resulted in a 3.11 ERA over 361
games, with 18 shutouts.
Definitely "Hard Luck"!
