Messersmith was having a wonderful career by the time the mid-70’s were in fully swing, having won 20-games for the second time in his career in 1974 when he posted a 20-6 mark along with a nice 2.59 earned run average and 221 strikeouts.
He’d finish second to teammate Mike Marshall and his historic season out of the bullpen for the Cy Young Award, and would also take home the first of two straight Gold Gloves.
In his seven seasons as a big league pitcher at that point, Messersmith’s highest season E.R.A. was 3.01, which he had in 1970 while with the California Angels.
In every other season in the Majors he posted E.R.A.’s under 3.00, and would finish his career with an amazing 2.86 mark after twelve years, with a record of 130-99 and 1625 strikeouts with 27 shutouts before injuries forced him to retire at the age of only 33 in 1979.
An underrated pitcher who sadly never got to play out his career to it’s fullest, he certainly maintained a top-notch level when he was healthy.