1970 20-WIN CIRCLE: BILL SINGER

Adding to my new thread celebrating all the 20-game winners of 1969, we have Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Bill Singer in my 1970 "20 Win Circle" sub-set:

Singer made his first All-Star team that year, posting a record of 20-12 over 41 appearances, with a 2.34 earned run average over 315.2 innings, completing 16 games while tossing two shutouts.

It was the third season in a row posting an ERA under 3.00 for the righty, while setting a career-high with 247 strikeouts.

During his career he posted two 20-win seasons and three 200-strikeout seasons, including 241 in 1973, which helped set a new record along with teammate Nolan Ryan’s 383 for most strikeouts by teammates with 624.

Sadly, though still only 33, arm troubles led him to retiring after the 1977 season, finishing up his career with a record of 118-127, with a nice 3.39 ERA over 322 appearances, with 24 shutouts and 1515 strikeouts.

OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 BILL SINGER

Today on the blog, we take another look at an OPC image variation from its Topps counterpart, this one the 1977 cards for former pitcher Bill Singer:

OPC issue

Topps issue

 

Definitely an improvement over the Topps airbrush edition, with OPC getting their photos in during Spring Training, giving kids their first cards of proper players in their Toronto Blue Jays uniforms for their inaugural season.

Sadly for Bill Singer though, 1977 was a bad year for him, as he’d go 2-8 with the new organization, posting an ERA at 6.79 over 13 appearances, all but one of them starts.

Consider that his 1976 season was not bad, as he combined to go 13-10 with a 3.69 ERA over 36 starts, with four shutouts split between the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins.
It was a quick decline for a guy who was a two-time 20-game winner, once with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the other with the California Angels, along with three 200+ strikeout seasons, with a high of 247 in 1969 while still in L.A.
His MLB career would end with a record of 118-127, along with a nice 3.39 E.R.A. And 1515 K’s in 322 appearances and 2175 innings pitched.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS-: 1974 A.L. STRIKEOUTS

The next card in line in my on-going "expanded league leaders" sub-set is the A.L. 1974 strikeout leaders card:

 

Of course we begin with the great Nolan Ryan and his record breaking 1973 campaign, when he broke the MLB strikeout record by one, with 383 K's.

Ryan was beginning his insane run at the record books, reaching 300+ strikeouts for the second straight year, in what would be five times out of six seasons between 1972 and 1977.

In addition to the strikeouts, he reached 20 wins for the first time in his career with 21, while posting a 2.87 ERA and four shutouts over 41 appearances, 39 of those starts.

Behind him with 258 strikeouts is another future Hall of Famer, Minnesota Twins ace Bert Blyleven, who reached 200+ K's for the third of what would be six seasons between 1971 and 1976.

Blyleven also reached 20 wins, the only time he would do so over his long career, tossing a league-leading nine shouts and posting an ERA of 2.52 over 40 starts.

Incredibly, after his 1976 season, he wouldn't reach 200-K's again until 1985 when he'd lead the A.L. with 206 in a season split between the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins.

In third place in the American League with 241 strikeouts in 1973, is another California Angels pitcher, Bill Singer, who had a great first season with his new team.

Coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Singer posted his second 20-win season, going 20-14 over 40 starts, with a 3.22 ERA and two shutouts, and helping set a new Major League record for strikeouts by teammates with Nolan Ryan, an astounding 624 between the two.

The record would stand until almost 30-years later when two dudes by the name of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling would seemingly strike everyone out in 2001, reaching 665 K's between them.

Well there you have it! The three top strikeout pitchers in the American League for 1973, expanded on a 1974 League Leader card.

1974 SPECIAL- THE RECORD-SETTING STRIKEOUT DUO OF NOLAN RYAN AND BILL SINGER

If you’re about my age (50) and remember the baseball days before some guys named Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling came along, you’ll remember the historic pitching duo of Nolan Ryan and Bill Singer seemingly striking everyone and their mothers out during the 1973 season.
Here’s my 1974 “special” celebrating their feat:

Found a very nice photo of Ryan and Singer, along with the most used catcher that season by the Angels, Jeff Torborg, and immediately thought of this card creation.
Of course, when you have Nolan Ryan’s record breaking 383 strikeouts, you’re off to a great head-start to set any kind of Major League record.
Now go and throw in Bill Singer’s 241 K’s, and you have a combined 624 punch-outs, setting a new Big League record that wouldn’t be surpassed until Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2001 with an incredible 664 K’s.
I always remember when Baseball Digest would have little specialty stats every so often like “40+ homers in three or more consecutive seasons”, “100+ homers in two consecutive seasons”, and the most strikeouts by teammate pitchers in a single season.
I loved grabbing each new issue when released and devouring all the info within like a sponge, leading to much mocking by my childhood friends calling me the “encyclopedia” and throwing baseball questions at me LITERALLY every day, and to this very day some 40 years later.
Anyway, it was a great season for these two guys, as they each won 20+ games, combined for those record-breaking strikeouts, threw six shutouts between them and logged 300+ innings each over 81 starts!
Those were certainly different times...

CAREER-CAPPER- 1978 BILL SINGER

Time to go ahead and give former pitcher Bill Singer a career-capping 1978 card celebrating his 14-year Big League career, which came to an end with 13 appearances in 1977 as an “original” Toronto Blue Jay during their inaugural season:

Singer went 2-8 for Toronto over those 13 appearances, 12 of them starts, pitching to an earned run average of 6.79 over 59.2 innings of work.
Still only 33, arm troubles led him to retiring after that season, finishing up his career with a record of 118-127, with a nice 3.39 ERA over 322 appearances, with 24 shutouts and 1515 strikeouts.
During his career he posted two 20-win seasons and three 200-strikeout seasons, including 241 in 1973, which helped set a new record along with teammate Nolan Ryan’s 383 for most strikeouts by teammates with 624.
He also struck out 227 batters in 1968 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a career-high 247 the following season for L.A., which was also his 1st 20-win campaign.

ANOTHER CASE OF AIRBRUSHING-1977 BILL SINGER

Today we take a look at the original airbrushed photo used for former pitcher Bill Singer’s last Topps card, a 1977 card as a member of the inaugural Toronto Blue Jays team:

I always found it odd when the artists at Topps did all the work on a cap, like this one which was excellently executed, then for some reason or another decided not to quickly paint-in the collar to a correct color.
Odd no?
You can clearly see that he was wearing a Minnesota Twins jersey, for whom he finished the 1976 season for after starting the year with the Texas Rangers.
Combined, he went 13-10 with an ERA at 3.69 over 36 appearances, all starts, which included four shutouts.
Sadly for him though, 1977 was a bad year for him, as he’d go 2-8 with the new organization, posting an ERA at 6.79 over 13 appearances, all but one of them starts.
Still only 33 years old, it turned out to be his last year as a Major League pitcher, finishing up with a record of 118-127 with an ERA of 3.39 with 24 shutouts in 322 appearances, 308 of those starts.
Of course he’s remembered for tossing a no-hitter in 1970, while also posting 20-win seasons in BOTH the American and National Leagues, going 20-12 for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1970 and 20-14 in 1973 for the California Angels, for which he was named to the All-Star teams each season, the only two times he’d make the team.

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: BILL SINGER, JULY 20TH 1970

The next No-Hitter profiled as we march through the 1970’s is the gem spun by former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Bill Singer on July 20th of 1970 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium:

Singer had a beauty of a game, striking out 10 batter without issuing a walk, though he did commit two errors and hit right-fielder Oscar Gamble with a pitch, preventing the perfect game.
A young Dodger “right-fielder” who would go on to much greater success in the infield, Bill Russell, drove in two runs, along with one RBI each from Willie Davis, Wes Parker and Jim Lefebvre, leading Los Abgeles to a 5-0 win.
Philly starter Woodie Fryman took the loss, throwing 4.2 innings and giving up all five runs before Lowell Palmer came in to pitch the final 3.1 innings, all scoreless with only one hit.
For Singer, it improved his record to 7-3 with a nifty 2.90 earned run average, while the loss dropped Fryman to 6-6 on the season.

EXPANSION RE-DONE: 1977 BILL SINGER

Here’s a re-done card of former pitcher Bill Singer, who played the last 13 games of his 14-year Major League career as a Toronto Blue Jay in their inaugural season:

Nice in-game shot of the righty during the 1977 season.
Over those 13 games, he started 12 and finished with a 2-8 record along with a 6.79 earned run average.
It was a quick decline for a guy who was a two-time 20-game winner, once with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the other with the California Angels, along with three 200+ strikeout seasons, with a high of 247 in 1969 while still in L.A.
His MLB career would end with a record of 118-127, along with a nice 3.39 E.R.A. And 1515 K’s in 322 appearances and 2175 innings pitched.