Today on
the blog, we have a 1975 "dedicated rookie" for Kansas City Royals ace
Dennis Leonard, who made his Big League debut in 1974:
Leonard
appeared in five games for K.C. that season, four of those starts,
going 0-4 with a bloated 5.32 earned run average over 22 innings of
work.
Lucky
for the Royals however, this was going to change in a big way, as
Leonard would become their anchor on the mound, posting three 20-win
seasons as they ascended to become a powerhouse later in the decade.
The man was a stud
between 1975 and 1981, finishing near the top of the A.L. for wins each
year while taking the mound every fourth or fifth day without fail,
logging a boatload of innings, even leading the
league in the strike-shortened 1981 season with 201.2 over his 26
starts.
Sadly arm injuries
kicked in during the 1982 season, something he’d never recover from,
missing the 1984 season and retiring soon after in 1986.
Over
12 seasons in the Majors, Leonard would finish with 144 wins and a 3.70
ERA over 312 appearances, with 23 shutouts and 1323 strikeouts, tossing
2187 innings which included two seasons of 290+ (1977/1978).
