Monday, January 13, 2020

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1977 LERRIN LaGROW

Today the blog offers up a “not so missing” 1977 card for former pitcher Lerrin LaGrow, who was coming off somewhat of a transitional year in his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1976:


LaGrow appeared in only eight games for the Birds that season, two of those as a starter, going 0-1 with a 1.48 earned run average over 24.1 innings of work.
In 1977 he’d hit his stride, finding success as a full-time reliever and going 7-3 over 66 appearances, with a very nice 2.46 ERA and 25 saves over 98.2 innings, helping the team to an excellent 90-72 season.
Though not as great a season in 1978, he was still effective, going 6-5 with 16 saves with a bump in ERA at 4.40 over 52 appearances, before splitting the 1979 season between the White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Combined between the two teams he went 5-4 with a bloated 5.27 ERA over 42 appearances, saving five games, while finishing the year with a nice 5-1 run with Los Angeles with four saves and a 3.41 ERA over 31 appearances.
Still only 31 years of age entering 1980, turns out it would be his last, joining the Philadelphia Phillies and going 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA over 25 appearances, saving three games, but he’d get released in July of that year as the Phillies would go on to win a World Championship.
LaGrow would hang them up, never even playing a Minor League game after that, finishing with a 10-year Big League career that saw him go 34-55 with a 4.11 ERA over 309 appearances and 779 innings pitched, with two shutouts and 54 saves between 1970 and 1980.