Up on the blog
today, we have a 1978 “expanded league leader” card that features the
top three strikeout pitchers in the American League for 1977:
Of course we begin
with the king, California Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan, who led the A.L.
with his 341 strikeouts, almost ONE HUNDRED more than the runner-up!
It was the fifth
time in six years Ryan reached the 300-strikeout plateau, something he
would do one more time TWELVE years later when he’d K 301 with the Texas
Rangers at the age of 42 in 1989. Just mind-boggling!
He would top 200+
strikeouts 15 seasons over his incredible Major League career, finishing
with 5714 and atop the all-time list, something we may never see
matched or broken.
In second place with
244 strikeouts, former Kansas City ace Dennis Leonard, who reached the
200-K mark for what would be the only time in his career.
Leonard also won 20
games that year, his first of three such campaigns for the perennial
A.L. West powerhouse Royals of the late-70’s/early-80’s, while posting
innings totals that would destroy a pitcher of
today, with a high of 294.2 in 1978, which followed a 1977 season of
292.2.
Sadly arm troubles
cut his career short by 1982, and he was out of baseball by 1986 after
only 45 appearances the final three years of his Big League tenure.
In third place with
205 strikeouts, Nolan Ryan’s teammate Frank Tanana, who was still a
fire-balling pitcher before he’d change his game to becoming a true
“pitcher” after arm issues set in.
For Tanana, it was
his third straight 200-strikeout campaign, leading the league with his
269 K’s in 1975 before a follow-up season of 261 in 1976.
What a one-two pitching punch Ryan and Tanana were for the Angels back then! Must have been something to witness.
There you have it! The top three power-pitchers of the American League in 1977, on an “expanded” league-leader card for 1978.
