Up on the blog
today, we have a 1978 “expanded league-leader” card celebrating the top
three pitchers in the National League in 1977 in regards to earned run
average:
We start off with
young fellow-Brooklyn native John Candelaria of the Pittsburgh Pirates,
who paced the league with his sparkling 2.34 ERA while posting a record
of 20-5, with six complete games and a shutout
thrown in for good measure.
Ironically, the man
also led the N.L. with 29 home runs allowed over his 230.2 inning
workload, something you don’t see every day for an ERA leader.
Candelaria is really
an underappreciated pitcher from the era, a steady starting arm who
routinely threw 200+ innings before moving into the bullpen for the
second half of his career.
He’d pitch 19 years
in the Majors, winning 177 games and sporting a nice 3.33 ERA over 600
appearances and 2525.2 innings pitched, with 13 shutouts and 29 saves.
In second place with
a 2.59 ERA, the great Tom Seaver, who split his 1977 campaign between
the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds after the shocking trade that sent
“The Franchise” packing from Shea Stadium,
something even THIS young Yankee fan was heartbroken over as an
eight-year-old.
Seaver did lead the
N.L. with his seven shutouts, while finishing the season 21-6,
completing 19 of his 33 starts and tossing 261.1 innings, with 196
strikeouts, the first time he didn’t reach 200 in a season
since his rookie year of 1967 when he K’d 170!
The man was simply the cream of the crop as far as pitchers were concerned during the 1970’s.
In third place with a
very nice 2.62 ERA for the 1977 season was Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher
Burt Hooton, who was enjoying the West Coast life after starting his
career with the Chicago Cubs.
Hooton posted a
record of 12-7 over his 31 starts, tossing two shutouts while picking up
a save in his only non-start appearance that season, throwing 223.1
innings for the eventual National League champs.
Another solid
pitcher, Hooton would go on to win 151 games over his 15 year career,
finishing up with the Texas Rangers in 1985 after suiting up for the
Cubs and Dodgers every other season in the Big Leagues.
