Sunday, November 21, 2021

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1974 N.L. EARNED RUN AVERAGE

Today on the blog we move on to pitching statistical leaders of 1973 in my on-going "expanded league leaders" where Topps only offered the top performer in each league for a particular category on the league leader cards, beginning with the National League's top three E.R.A. guys:

 
Of course, we begin with the great Tom Seaver, who led the league in E.R.A. in 1973 on his way to a second Cy Young Award, with his 2.08 figure.
Seaver posted a record of 19-10, also leading the N.L. in complete games with 18 and strikeouts with 251, while tossing three shutouts for the New York Mets.
Right behind him with an E.R.A. 2.42 is another Hall of Famer, Don Sutton of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had a typical year for himself, going 18-10 over 33 starts, with three shutouts and an even 200 strikeouts, finishing fifth in the Cy Young race for the second year in a row while making his second All-Star team.
The surprise player on this expanded card today is former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Wayne Twitchell, who had the best season of his 10 year career in 1973, finishing up with a record of 13-9 over 34 appearances, 28 of them starts, with a very nice 2.50 E.R.A.
For Twitchell, he completed 10 of those starts, tossing five shutouts while striking out 169 batters, all career bests.
Well there you have it, the top three E.R.A. pitchers of 1973 for the National League, and next week we'll head over to the American League for their stingiest hurlers.
See you then!

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