Up on the blog this fine day, we have a 1977 "dedicated rookie" for pitcher Len barker, who'd have himself a decent eleven-year Major League career ahead of him with some truly bright moments:
Barker
made his Big League debut in 1976, appearing in two games while going
1-0 for the Texas Rangers, pitching to a nice 2.40 earned run average
over 15 innings, including a complete-game shutout.
He'd be
back in 1977, appearing in 15 games, with three of those starts, going
4-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 47.1 innings, giving the Rangers hope that they
found a home grown ace.
Sadly the 1978 season had Barker
struggle, going 1-5 over 29 games, seeing his ERA blow up more than two
full runs to 4.82, eventually leading to a trade to the Cleveland
Indians along with Bobby Bonds for Larvell Blanks and Jim Kern.
In
Cleveland, Barker found his groove, putting in solid seasons between
1980 and 1982, including 19 wins in 1980 and two straight strikeout
titles in 1980 & 1981.
Of course, the high point of his
career would be May 15th of 1981 in Cleveland, when Barker reached the
ultimate pitching accomplishment, tossing a perfect game against the
Toronto Blue Jays, at the time the ninth such gem in MLB history.
At
this writing it is STILL the last no-hitter thrown by a Cleveland
pitcher, and something Barker to this day loves to talk about, never
tiring of that grand performance.
Sadly by 1983, still only 27
years of age and now a member of the Atlanta Braves, Barker starting
having arm trouble, which quickly led to his retirement by 1983, on 31.
Over
his 11 year career, Barker finished with a record of 74-76, with an ERA
of 4.34 over 248 games and 1323.2 innings, with seven shutouts and five
saves, with the aforementioned two K-titles and an All-Star game
appearance in 1981, and of course that perfect game.
