Long
overdue, here’s my 1972 “Dedicated Rookie” for the ageless Charlie
Hough, who put in a quarter-century on a Big League mound:
Hough made his Major League debut in 1970 with eight games as a Los
Angeles Dodger and would take his knuckleball straight into the 1990’s,
finishing up with two seasons as an inaugural Miami Marlin in 1993/1994.
In between, all the man would do is win 216 games (against 216 losses),
toss 13 shutouts, save 61 games, and appear in 858 games, with 440 of
them starts.
He spent the first half of his career as a reliever with the Dodgers
before finding his groove as a starter with the Texas Rangers, topping
15 wins seven times between 1982 and 1988.
In 1987, at the age of 39, he lead the Majors with 285.1 innings
pitched, starting 40 games that year when he also set career-highs in
wins (18) and strikeouts (223) for the Rangers.
A very nice Big League career for the Honolulu, Hawaii native that saw him pitch until he was 46 years of age!