On the blog today,
we move on to a 1977 “expanded league leader” card for the N.L.’s top
three E.R.A. pitchers of the 1976 season, in my long-running thread
“fixing” the limited Leaders cards of the 1970’s:
We begin with young
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher John Denny, who put in a very nice sophomore
season in the Big Leagues, leading the league with his 2.52 ERA in
1976.
For Denny, he posted
a record of 11-9 that year, after a rookie season the year prior that
saw him go 10-7, however with a 3.97 ERA over 25 appearances.
For the 1976 season
he appeared in 30 games, all starts, throwing 207 innings and tossing
three shutouts among his eight complete games.
A steady starter
over his 13-year career, his best season would be 1983 when he helped
lead the “Wheez Kids” Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series, winning
the Cy Young Award with his league-leading 19
wins against six losses, along with a very nice 2.37 ERA and
career-high 242.2 innings pitched.
Behind Denny in the
ERA race in 1976, Los Angeles Dodgers starter Doug Rau with his 2.57
mark, who had himself a very nice five year run between 1974 and 1978,
giving L.A. a dependable arm every fourth or
fifth day.
For Rau, he won a
career-best 16 games against 12 losses over 34 appearances, 32 of those
starts, with eight complete games and three shutouts.
Between the years
mentioned above, Rau averaged about 15 wins a season for the Dodgers,
reaching just about 200 innings pitched each year.
Sadly his career
came to a sudden end because of arm trouble, managing only 11
appearances in 1979, and three in 1981 with the California Angels,
giving him a final record of 81-60 over 222 games between 1972
and 1981.
In third place with a
2.59 ERA, Hall of Famer and MY pick as the best pitcher of the 1970’s,
Tom Seaver of the New York Mets, who had a “down” season that saw him go
14-11 over 35 games with a league-leading
235 strikeouts, with five shutouts thrown in.
The man was just incredible. What a talent.
It was Seaver’s
ninth straight season of 200+ strikeouts, setting a record on his way to
3640 career K’s, to go with his 311 wins, 2.86 ERA, 61 shutouts and
three Cy Young Awards over 20 years in the Big Leagues.
Next week? We move on to the American League in the same category.
See you then!
