Today on the blog we move on to pitching statistical leaders of 1973 in my on-going "expanded league leaders" where Topps only offered the top performer in each league for a particular category on the league leader cards, beginning with the National League's top three E.R.A. guys:
Of course, we begin with the great Tom
Seaver, who led the league in E.R.A. in 1973 on his way to a second Cy
Young Award, with his 2.08 figure.
Seaver posted a record of
19-10, also leading the N.L. in complete games with 18 and strikeouts
with 251, while tossing three shutouts for the New York Mets.
Right
behind him with an E.R.A. 2.42 is another Hall of Famer, Don Sutton of
the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had a typical year for himself, going 18-10
over 33 starts, with three shutouts and an even 200 strikeouts,
finishing fifth in the Cy Young race for the second year in a row while
making his second All-Star team.
The surprise player on this
expanded card today is former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Wayne
Twitchell, who had the best season of his 10 year career in 1973,
finishing up with a record of 13-9 over 34 appearances, 28 of them
starts, with a very nice 2.50 E.R.A.
For Twitchell, he completed 10 of those starts, tossing five shutouts while striking out 169 batters, all career bests.
Well
there you have it, the top three E.R.A. pitchers of 1973 for the
National League, and next week we'll head over to the American League
for their stingiest hurlers.
See you then!
