Time
to go and take a look at another airbrushing gem form the 1970s, the
1975 Ken Sanders card featuring the career reliever with his “new” team,
the California Angels:
From the front of his jersey you can barely see the fact that he’s
wearing a Cleveland Indians uni, from where he came over during the
1974 season after being released in June.
He was signed by California a week later, and went on to appear in only
nine games for them the rest of the way, not factoring in a decision and
posting an ERA of 2.79 over 9.2 innings with a save thrown in.
He’d go on to spend all of 1975 with the New York Mets, putting in
another good year with a record of 1-1 along with a 2.30 ERA with five
saves in 30 appearances and 43 innings of work.
After that he’d one more season under the Big League sun, splitting 1976
with the Mets and Kansas City Royals, appearing in 31 games and again
posting a sub-3.00 ERA, this time at 2.70.
Never an All-Star, he did have two straight seasons of sub-2.00 ERA for
the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970 and 1971, with 1.75 and 1.91 respectively,
along with a league-leading 31 saves in the latter season.
All told he finished up with a ten-year Major League career, appearing
in 409 games and posting a record of 29-45, with 86 saves and a very
nice 2.97 ERA over 656.2 innings, with only one start in his career,
that for the K.C. Athletics way back in 1966.