On the blog today, we move on to the N.L.’s top three winning pitchers for 1977 shown on an “expanded” 1978 league leader card:
Actually the card shows SIX pitchers, as the third place spot was taken up by four guys who posted 20 wins each in 1977.
But first, we begin
with all-timer Steve Carlton, who took home his second Cy Young Award
that season after pacing the league with his 23 wins, while posting a
very nice 2.64 earned run average and 198 strikeouts
for the Philadelphia Phillies.
It was Carlton’s
fourth 20-win season, something he will do another two more times before
he’s done, retiring with 329 wins along with 4136 strikeouts and 55
shutouts over his incredible 24 year career.
In second place with
21 wins, “Tom Terrific” Tom Seaver, who split the 1977 campaign with
the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds, going 21-7 with a league-leading
seven shutouts, while striking out 196 batters
with 19 complete games, having arguably a better year than Carlton to
be honest.
For Seaver it was
his fifth and final 20-year season, on his way to 311 wins for his
stellar career, while fanning 3640 batters and throwing 61 shutouts over
20 years under the Big League sun.
Just incredible, and easily my favorite pitcher of the decade if I say so myself.
In fourth place with
20 wins, four pitchers who all put in decent MLB careers: John
Candelaria of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ken Forsch of the St. Louis
Cardinals, Tommy John of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Rick
Reuschel of the Chicago Cubs.
These are all men
who at one point in their careers were the aces of their staffs, putting
in solid Big League tenures well into the 1980’s, with Tommy John
especially unique do to his surgery just a couple
of years before that would have ended his career in another time or
era.
The man went on to
pitch over a quarter of a century and receive a surgery that ultimately
bears his name and is almost a par-for-the-course ritual for today’s
pitchers. Just incredible that he was able to
go on for so long and end up with 288 wins over 26 years!
There you have it!
The top winning pitchers in the National League in 1977, proudly
displayed on a 1978 “expanded league leader” card.
Next week, the A.L.!
