Up on the blog today, we move on to the American League and their top 1973 E.R.A. trio, featuring a couple of Hall of Famers and a nice surprise starter:
We begin with the Baltimore
Orioles Jim Palmer, who took home the first of his two career E.R.A.
crowns with a 2.40 finish for 1973.
It was also the year he
took home the first of his three Cy Young Awards, finishing 22-9 with
six shutouts, 19 complete games and 158 strikeouts, even picking up a
save along the way.
It was the fourth of what would be an
incredible eight 20-win seasons for the ace, eventually finishing with
268 wins over 19 seasons, with those three Cy Young Awards, four Gold
Gloves, and five other top-5 finishes in the Cy Young race.
Right
behind him with a 2.52 E.R.A. is Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, who led
the American League with nine shutouts in 1973, as he would finish with a
record of 20-17, the only 20-win season of his long career, while
striking out 258 batters, the third 200 of what would be eight
200-strikeout seasons in his career.
For Blyleven, he'd win
287 games, toss 60 shutouts, and strikeout 3701 batters over 22 years,
but STILL had to wait a while before getting the Cooperstown nod to the
Hall of Fame. Just ridiculous.
In third place with a nice 2.75
E.R.A. is Boston Red Sox starter Bill Lee, who had himself a very nice
first season as a Big League Starter in 1973 when he posted a record of
17-11 over 38 appearances, 33 of them starts, tossing a shutouts while
striking out 120 batters, making his only All-Star team as well.
Lee
would put together three straight 17-win seasons for Boston between
1973 and 1975, completing 18, 16 and 17 games respectively before arm
issues derailed his career.
Aside from 10 wins for Boston in
1978 and 16 for the Montreal Expos in 1979, Lee wouldn't reach
double-digit wins again in his career over the last seven years of his
career.
He'd retire with a record of 119 and 90, along with an
E.R.A. of 3.62 over 416 appearances between 1969 and 1982, throwing 10
shutouts, saving 19, and striking out 713 over 1944.1 innings.
Now onto the Major League Wins leaders! See you next time!
