Up on the blog today we have a “not so missing” 1970 card for former pitcher Tom Bradley, who was never shown on a Topps card with the team he originally came up with, the California Angels:
Bradley appeared in three games for the Angels in his first taste of the
Big Leagues during the 1969 season, going 0-1 with a 27.00 ERA in
two-innings of work.
In 1970 he would go 2-5 over 17 games, pitching to a 4.13 ERA over 69.2 innings, with his 1st MLB shutout and complete game.
1971 was actually the first of three pretty good seasons for Bradley, as
he went on to post a 15-15 record with a nice 2.96 E.R.A. and 206
strikeouts.
He started an amazing 39 games that year, enough for 285.2 innings even
though he only completed seven games. But he DID post SIX shutouts in
those seven complete games.
1972 was almost identical to 1971, as he went 15-14 with a 2.98 earned
run average and 209 strikeouts while starting 40 games, good for 260.0
innings. Of those 40 starts he upped his complete games to eleven,
though his shutout total dropped to two.
Nevertheless not a bad arm to have starting every fourth day!
1973 was a small step backwards, as he moved on to the San Francisco
Giants, but decent when all was said and done: Bradley ended up with a
13-12 record over 34 starts, good for 224 innings and six complete
games. His strikeout total dropped noticeably, totaling only 136, but
perhaps it was a sign of things to come…
In 1974 he was not nearly as effective a starter, going 8-11 with a
bloated 5.16 E.R.A. over the course of 21 starts and 30 appearances. He
managed only 134.1 innings and notched only 72 K's. But he DID have two
shutouts among his eight wins.
However, by 1975 he was pretty much done, as he managed to pitch in only 13 games, six of them starts.
He ended his final year in the big leagues with a 2-3 record and eye-popping 6.21 E.R.A.
He appeared in his last game on September, 15th of '75, ended his career at the age of 28.
Bradley went on to a lengthy career as a college head baseball coach,
leading Jacksonville University from 1979 to 1990 before moving on to
his alma mater, the University of Maryland from 1991 through 2000.
