Fun card to add to the WTHBALLS mix today, a "missing" 1976 traded card for solid MLB starter Mike Torrez, who seemed to find himself on a new team every year in the mid-to-late 1970s, even though he kept on winning for whomever he suited up for:
I
had fun creating a "bad" Photoshop image of him instead of an actual
shot of him as an Oakland A's pitcher, to give it more of that authentic
feel.
Torrez
was part of the BLOCKBUSTER traded between the Baltimore Orioles and
Oakland A's on April 2nd, 1976, when Baltimore sent him along with Don
Baylor and Paul Mitchell out West for Bill VanBommel, Ken Holtzman and
of course Reggie Jackson just as the season was opening up.
Torrez
was coming off his only 20-win season, and certainly made this package
much more even than most remember, as Reggie was ready to take his
superstar bat elsewhere after numerous battles with owner Charlie
Finley.
I’ve always been fascinated by Torrez’s run between 1974 and 1978 when
he posted 15+ wins each and every year, playing for a different team
each and every season!
In 1974 he won 15 for the Montreal Expos, then 20 for the Baltimore Orioles in 1975, then 16 for the Oakland A’s, then the aforementioned 17 combined wins with the Yanks and A’s in 1977, then finally 16 for the Boston Red Sox in 1978.
Toss in his 16 wins for the Expos in 1972 and then another 16 for the Red Sox in 1979, and we are talking a solid eight-year run of dependability that gets overlooked.
By the time he retired after the 1984 season, Torrez fashioned himself a solid 18-year career that saw him go 185-160, with a 3.96 E.R.A., 1404 strikeouts and 15 shutouts over 494 games, 458 of which were starts.
He also won two games in the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers, pitching a complete game in both starts, yielding a 2.50 E.R.A. with 15 strikeouts. Not bad at all…
In 1974 he won 15 for the Montreal Expos, then 20 for the Baltimore Orioles in 1975, then 16 for the Oakland A’s, then the aforementioned 17 combined wins with the Yanks and A’s in 1977, then finally 16 for the Boston Red Sox in 1978.
Toss in his 16 wins for the Expos in 1972 and then another 16 for the Red Sox in 1979, and we are talking a solid eight-year run of dependability that gets overlooked.
By the time he retired after the 1984 season, Torrez fashioned himself a solid 18-year career that saw him go 185-160, with a 3.96 E.R.A., 1404 strikeouts and 15 shutouts over 494 games, 458 of which were starts.
He also won two games in the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers, pitching a complete game in both starts, yielding a 2.50 E.R.A. with 15 strikeouts. Not bad at all…
