Today's blog post has Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clause Osteen added to my new 1970 "20-win Circle" thread, celebrating the 20-game winning pitchers of 1969:
Osteen
would join the 20-win circle for the first time in his career in 1969,
putting in an excellent campaign with seven shutouts, 183 strikeouts
and a 2.66 earned run average over a workmanlike 321 innings and 16
complete games.
The
man was an innings eater, putting in well over 200 innings a year
between 1963 and 1973, with the 321 from 1969 his career-high.
He fell just short of 200 wins in his career with 196, as he
posted a 7-16 record with the Chicago White Sox in his last season of 1975.
But he did have a solid career nevertheless, winning 20 games twice
(1969 and 1972), throwing 40 shutouts (with a high of seven in 1969),
and finishing with a 3.30 earned run average, with four seasons posting a
sub-3.00 figure.
Coming over from the Washington Senators in 1965, he must have been
overjoyed becoming a Dodger, teaming up with Don Drysdale and Sandy
Koufax (and soon enough Don Sutton), to form quite the formidable
rotation.
He was part of a World Championship team right off the bat in 1965
as the Dodgers beat the Minnesota Twins, but was also part of the Dodger
team that got swept in the series the following year by the Baltimore
Orioles.
A three-time All-Star, Osteen is also in the top-50 all-time in shutouts and games started (with 488).
Certainly an overlooked ace from the era.
