Friday, June 16, 2023

1977 N.L. CENTENNIAL: JOHN MONTEFUSCO

Today we add former San Francisco Giant ace John Montefusco to my long-running 1977 "N.L. Centennial" sub-set:


The 1975 N.L. Rookie of the Year had a fine Sophomore season in 1976, winning 16 games with a 2.84 earned run average, leading the league with six shutouts while striking out 172 batters in 253.1 innings.
In his Freshman season of 1975 he cruised to the rookie-award by posting a record of 15-9 with a 2.88 earned run average and a very impressive 215 strikeouts.
He also chipped in four shutouts over his 34 starts, completing 10 of them while throwing 243.2 innings, even finishing fourth in the league Cy Young race.
He’d stick around in the big leagues through the 1986 season, but sadly for him never had the success of those first two years, though he did post a 14-4 record in 1983 split between the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees, for whom he’d pitch the final 3 1/2 years of his 13-year career.
All told Montefusco finished with a 90-83 career record, with a 3.54 ERA, 1081 strikeouts and 11 shutouts over 298 appearances, 244 of which were starts.
And of course...a cool nickname!
“The Count”!