Bahnsen, aka the “Bahnsen Burner”, was coming off of his only 20-win season as a Major Leaguer when he went 21-16 in 1972, starting 41 games and appearing in 43 while throwing 252.1 innings.
He was already the 1968 American League Rookie of the Year when he came up with the New York Yankees and posted a stellar earned run average of 2.05 to go with a record of 17-12 with 162 strikeouts before getting traded to the Pale Hose for Rich McKinney in December of 1971.
Never really understood that trade since Bahnsen did nothing but perform well for the Yanks over his first four full MLB seasons between 1968 and 1971.
He would eventually pitch 16 seasons in the Big Leagues, posting a career record of 146-149 with an ERA of 3.60 over 574 appearances between 1966 and 1982.
