First up, my re-done card:
Ellsworth actually appeared in 34 games for Cleveland in 1969, throwing 135 innings, so you’d think Topps would have had a nice photo of him for their 1970 card.
But with the problems Topps was having with the Player’s Union, we see, along with so many other cards from the era, Topps was forced to use older images to make due.
I’m assuming the original image was actually from a FEW years earlier when Ellsworth was with the Chicago Cubs, for whom he had his best MLB seasons. You can barely see the top of the “C” logo on his chest peeking out there at the bottom of the card. He last pitched for them in 1966!
His best season would unfortunately be the same season a guy named Sandy Koufax exploded for his 1st Cy Young Award in 1963.
That year Ellsworth sparkled for the Cubs, going 22-10 with a 2.11 E.R.A. and 185 strikeouts over 37 starts and 290.2 innings pitched.
He’d win 14 games each of the next two seasons before losing 22 games in 1966, even though his E.R.A. was under 4.00, but he’d bounce back in 1968 as a member of the Boston Red Sox when he posted a 16-7 record with a 3.03 E.R.A. over 28 starts and 196 innings of work.
All in all he’d finish with a record of 115 and 137 with a 3.72 E.R.A., along with 1140 strikeouts over 407 appearances, 310 of them starts, and 2155.2 innings pitched.
