Dobson appeared in nine games for California in 1975, going 0-2 with a 6.75 earned run average over 28 innings of work.
It was his second year with the Angels after coming over from the Oakland A’s, who released him just before the 1974 season started.
The reason I always felt bad for him was he actually wasn’t a part of the Oakland A’s since 1971 when he posted an excellent 15-5 record with a 3.81 ERA over 30 appearances, all starts.
He missed 1972, though he did appear in nine game down in the Minor Leagues, and appeared in one solitary game during the 1973 season, pitching a total of 2.1 innings.
So he started his Major League career in 1966 with the (then) Kansas City Athletics at the age of 22, put in a very nice string of six seasons where he posted double-digit wins, even leading the American League in shutouts in 1970 with five, only to miss out on the three straight championships his teammates went on to have between 1972 and 1974.
That had to hurt!
Kind of reminds me of Lee May, who had to watch all of the guys he came through the system with in the 1960’s go on to become the “Big Red Machine” while he was down in Houston after the Joe Morgan trade.
Nevertheless, Dobson had himself a nice nine-year career that saw him go 74-69, with an ERA of 3.78 over 202 appearances, with 11 shutouts and 49 complete games.
