For fun today, I wanted to do-over former ace Mike Cuellar's 1970 card, which was originally a reused non-descript photo of him cap-less due to Topps short-lived issue with the MLBPA, giving us many lame cards between 1969 and 1970:
For those that don't remember the original, here you go:
Just
a nicer more time-appropriate image of the man as he was seemingly
posting 20 wins a year for the juggernaut Baltimore Orioles.
The man was as solid as they came over his career, which began in 1959 with the Cincinnati Reds as a 22-year-old.
He ended up putting in a nice 15-year career that saw him
win 185 games, post four 20+ win seasons, win a Cy Young Award (shared
with Tigers pitcher Denny McLain in 1969) and post four sub-3.00 E.R.A.
Seasons.
I never realized that even though he came up in 1959 with the
Cincinnati Reds, appearing in two games as a 22-year old, he didn't make
it back to the Major's until 1964 at the age of 27, now as a member of
the St. Louis Cardinals.
Considering his lifetime win total mentioned above, he could have
possibly approached 250 wins had he not missed those four-plus years in
the early-1960's.
His lifetime numbers nevertheless were impressive: the 185 wins mentioned above,
a 3.14 lifetime E.R.A., 36 shutouts and 1632 strikeouts over 453 games,
379 of which were starts, completing almost half of them with 172.
