NICKNAMES OF THE 1970s: "SKEETER" CLYDE WRIGHT

Up on the blog today, a fun card to add to my long-running "Nicknames of the 1970's" thread, a 1971 edition for former California Angels pitcher Clyde "Skeeter" Wright:

Wright had himself his best Major League season in 1970, winning 22 games while pitching to a 2.83 earned run average and making his only All-Star team, while finishing sixth at the end of the year in the Cy Young race.

On July 3rd of that year he would also reach the pinnacle of his career with a brilliant 4-0 no-hitter over the Oakland A's at Anaheim Stadium.

He would go on to post two more sub-3.00 ERA's in both 1971 and 1972 while winning 16 and 18 games respectively, but would follow that up with a 19-loss season in 1973 with an ERA a full run higher at 3.68.

His 1974 season wasn't any better, as he would be now pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers, and he would go on to post a record of 9-20, with an ERA of 4.42 over 38 appearances, 32 of them starts.

He would have one more season, this one with the Texas Rangers in 1975, finishing up with a record of 4-6 over 25 games, 14 of those starts, with an ERA at 4.44 over 93.1 innings.
He would then take his talents to Japan, where he pitched with the Yomiuri Giants for three years, winning 22 games, before retiring for good.
For his MLB career, he won exactly 100 games against 111 losses, with an ERA of 3.50 over 329 appearances, 235 of them starts, with nine shutouts and 667 strikeouts in 1728.2 innings.

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: CLYDE WRIGHT, JULY 3RD 1970

Next up in my on-going “No-Hitter” thread is the one tossed by former California Angels pitcher Clyde Wright on July 3rd, 1970 against the Oakland A’s:

Wright was having the greatest year of his career in 1970, a season after posting a dismal 1-8 record, with the team releasing him before he went to play Winter Ball where he developed an off-speed repertoire, making it back to the Big Leagues in star fashion.
On July 3rd, against a powerful Oakland A’s line-up, he put it all together and threw the first no-hitter at Anaheim Stadium, striking out one batter while walking three, improving his record to 12-5 and lowering his earned run average to a nifty 2.90.
The big blow of the game was a 4th inning three-run home run by third baseman Ken McMullen, while eventual league batting champ Alex Johnson also chipped in an RBI in the first.
For Wright, it was a season that would see him win the A.L. Comeback Player of the Year Award, as he posted a record of 22-12 with a 2.83 ERA over 39 starts and 260.2 innings of work.
He’d go on to post two more seasons of sub-3.00 ERA’s in 1971 and 1972, at 2.99 and 2.98 while putting up 16 and 18 wins respectively.
Come 1973 however, his ERA would go up nearly a full run while posting a record of 11-19, only to see him lose 20 games with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1974, before a final season, this one with the Texas Rangers in 1975, finishing up with a record of 4-6, which would be the last action he’d see as a Major Leaguer.
He would take his talents to Japan, where he pitched with the Yomiuri Giants for three years, winning 22 games, before retiring for good.
For his MLB career, he won exactly 100 games against 111 losses, with an ERA of 3.50 over 329 appearances, 235 of them starts, with nine shutouts and 667 strikeouts in 1728.2 innings.

A 1974 AIRBRUSHING GEM: CLYDE WRIGHT

Here’s another airbrush classic thanks to Topps, the 1974 Clyde Wright (father of Jaret) edition:

Wright found himself in Milwaukee after an eight-year run with the California Angels, the team he came up with in 1966.
So Topps whipped out the tools and gave us this great paint job to “Brewer-ize” Wright just in time for their 1974 set.
Wright had quite a run with the Angels between 1970 and 1972, posting three straight years of sub-3.00 earned run averages along with 56 wins with a high of 22 in 1970, with six shutouts while averaging about 265 innings pitched.
Sadly for him however once a Brewer in 1974, he would end up losing 20, going 9-20 with a not so terrible 4.42 ERA, but in the light-hitting early 1970’s it was high enough to spell doom for any pitcher.
He would spend the 1975 season with the Texas Rangers, then find himself out of the Major Leagues for good, finishing with a 100-111 career record along with a 3.50 ERA over 329 games and 1728.2 innings pitched.
Years later his son Jaret would make a name for himself in 1997 beating the Yankees twice in the Division Series to help the Cleveland Indians eventually move on to the World Series before losing to the Florida Marlins.