On the blog today, a "not so missing" 1977 card for former San Diego Padres pitcher Bob Owchinko, who made his Big League debut during the 1976 season:
Owchinko went 0-2 in his first
taste of the Majors, throwing 4.1 innings over two appearances at the
tail end of the year, getting hit hard, to the tune of a 16.62 ERA.
Ouch.
He'd fare much better the following season, when he'd go
9-12 over 30 games, 28 of them starts, completing three and throwing
two shutouts in 170 innings of work.
After parts of four
seasons with San Diego, he was off to the Cleveland Indians in 1980,
appearing in 29 games and having a rough year, going 2-9 with a 5.27 ERA
in 114.1 innings, though he did post a shutout.
In both 1981
and 1982 he suited up for the Oakland A's, where he became a bullpen
guy, appearing in 83 games combined, saving five games and throwing
141.1 innings in relief.
After a 1983 season that saw him
appear in one game for the Pittsburgh Pirates, not registering an out
over two batters, he came back in 1984 as a member of the Cincinnati
Reds, where he played in 49 games, with four starts, going 3-5 with a
4.12 ERA in 94 innings, saving two.
He'd spend all of 1985 in
the Minors at the age of 30, before making it back to the Big Leagues in
1986 for what turned out to be his last hurrah in the Majors, this time
for the Montreal Expos, where he would go 1-0 over three games, posting
a 3.60 ERA over 15 innings.
Overall, Owchinko finished with a
record of 37-60 over 275 games, pitching to a 4.28 ERA in 890.2 innings
of work, tossing four shutouts and saving seven games in 10 seasons.
