Think about it, the man wins 19 games with an ERA of 2.08 in his rookie year, only to lose out on the Rookie of the Year Award to a guy named Johnny Bench, share his two-player rookie card with a guy named Nolan Ryan, and share a starting rotation with a guy named Tom Seaver!
Talk about hard-luck!
And then he endures an excellent Major League career generally pitching for second division teams over the course of his 19-year career.
Nevertheless, Koosman posted two 20-win seasons, one in each league, with four seasons of sub-3.00 ERA’s, while ending up with a record of 222-209 along with 2556 strikeouts and 33 shutouts.
I’ll always remember the anecdote of Koosman proudly telling people that his rookie card was worth hundreds of dollars (back in the early 90-s), then casually mentioning that Nolan Ryan was also on there.
Great career overshadowed by the big National League guns of the 1970’s like Seaver, Fergie Jenkins, Steve Carlton, etc.
