On
the blog today, we spotlight another card from my 1960's Dedicated
Rookie set released a couple of years ago, this time my 1965 card for
Hall of Famer Jim "Catfish" Hunter:
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Hunter
was a 19-year-old who hadn't yet pitched in a Big League game when this
card would have come out, who would go on to finish 8-8 over 32 games
with two shutouts and a 4.26 earned run average over 133 innings.
Over his 15-year career, which wrapped up in 1979 due to arm
troubles, Hunter racked up 224 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 42
shutouts and 2012 strikeouts.
He took home the Cy Young Award in 1974 in his last season with the
A's, came in second for the award the following year in his first year
as a landmark Free-Agent with the Yankees, and threw a perfect game back
in 1968 at the young age of 22.
A big-game pitcher, Hunter was a member of no less than five World
Champion teams: 1972-74 Oakland A's, and the "Bronx Zoo" Yankee teams of
1977-78.
Did you know that Hunter is the last pitcher in the Major Leagues to complete 30 or more games in a season?
In 1975 he completed 30 of his 39 starts, on his way to a 23-14 record with seven shutouts and a 2.58 E.R.A.
Between 1971 and 1975 he won 20 or more games each year, a great five year run which saw him win 111 games.
As a matter of fact, Hunter was the first pitcher since the
all-time great Walter Johnson to win 200 games before the age of 31! And
the only other guys at that time to also do it? Christy Mathewson and
Cy Young. Incredible.
Sadly arm troubles and diabetes started to affect his career, forcing him to retire in 1979 at the age of only 33.
The final feather in his baseball cap would be a Hall of Fame
induction in 1987 along with Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, giving
him a solid place in baseball history, if he didn't have one already...