As a favor to my buddy Eric, today on the blog I went and created a 1971 "Minor League Days" fantasy card for former Los Angeles Dodgers great Don Drysdale, who retired a couple of years earlier:
"Big
D" retired at a young 32 years of age, and it's fun imagining his
career extending into the mid-70's or so, something we didn't get to
see.
The
fresh-faced 18-year-old you see here on this card went 11-11 for the
Montreal Royals, posting an ERA of 3.33 over 173 innings, with three
shutouts and only 80 strikeouts.
He'd
make his MLB debut in 1956 and show the Brooklyn faithfull what he was
capable of, going 5-5 with a very nice 2.64 ERA over 99 innings of work,
completing two of his 12 starts while relieving in another 13 games for
the eventual N.L. champs.
He'd
go one to become a true ace, posting double-digit wins every full year
of his career, making eight All-Star teams, taking home the Cy Young
Award in 1962, and posting seven seasons of sub-3.00 ERAs.
Though he did eventually make the Hall of Fame, he retired with a
209-166 career record, a 2.95 earned run average and 2486
strikeouts. Excellent numbers of course, but arguably borderline stats
for the Hall (think Jack Morris, Luis Tiant, etc).
So imagine if he was able to tack on some more wins and maybe even reach 3000 strikeouts, which at the time of his retirement only the great Walter Johnson had done in Major League history.
The man WAS a beast though, intimidating batters along contemporary hurler Bob Gibson like few before or since, five times leading the National League in plunked batsmen, just to let them know who was boss.
Love guys like that!
Only wish we would have been able to see him pitch more, and more importantly regale us with stories a lot longer than his short 56 years, shockingly passing away in 1993.
So imagine if he was able to tack on some more wins and maybe even reach 3000 strikeouts, which at the time of his retirement only the great Walter Johnson had done in Major League history.
The man WAS a beast though, intimidating batters along contemporary hurler Bob Gibson like few before or since, five times leading the National League in plunked batsmen, just to let them know who was boss.
Love guys like that!
Only wish we would have been able to see him pitch more, and more importantly regale us with stories a lot longer than his short 56 years, shockingly passing away in 1993.
