On the blog today, I'll add Cincinnati reds pitching phenom Wayne Simpson to my "missing" 1971 "Baseball's Greatest Moments" sub-set, celebrating his splash in the Majors back in 1970:
Simpson came up with an absolute "BANG" in 1970, going 14-3 with a
3.02 E.R.A., two shutouts and 10 complete games in 24 starts with the
Cincinnati Reds, finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting.
He won 13 of his first 14 decisions, including a one-hitter, a
two-hitter and a three-hitter!
Needless to say, the Reds looked like they had quite the prospect on their hands the first half of the 1970 season.
But by July 26th of that year arm troubles set in, ending his season with a 14-3 record and a 3.02 earned run average.
Turns out the arm problems were serious enough to curtail his
career right from the start, as he'd never pitch a full season for the
Reds over the next few years.
After landing in Kansas City for the 1973 season, Simpson didn't
fare much better, going 3 and 4 with a 5.73 E.R.A. over 16 games, 10 of
which were starts.
He never saw any Major League action in 1974, and in 1975 he was
now in Philadelphia, appearing in seven games, five of which were starts
for the Phillies, going 1-0 with a 3.23 E.R.A., pitching 30.2 innings.
However more arm troubles caused him to miss the 1976 season, and
in 1977 he found himself on yet another team, the California Angels.
It turned out he would start the most games next to his stellar
rookie season for his career, toeing the rubber 23 times, 27 games
total for California, throwing 122 innings with a
6-12 record and 5.83 E.R.A.
His 1970 season was one of those rookie splashes up there with Von
McDaniel, Mark Fidrych and Herb Score, enough so that he would still be a
figure baseball magazines would write about years later as far as a
young arm making an immediate impact.
