On the blog today, we move on to the National league and their top three ERA pitchers of 1978, displayed on a 1979 "expanded league leader" card:
We begin with New York Mets starter
Craig Swan, who surprisingly put in a solid year for the cellar-dwelling
Mets, leading the league with his 2.43 earned run average.
Though
his record was only 9-6 over his 29 appearances, he did toss 207.1
innings, giving up only 56 earned runs while completing five games,
including a shutout.
He'd follow that season up with another
solid season, posting a record of 14-13 over 35 starts, with an ERA of
3.29 along with three shutouts and twn complete games, striking out a
career-best 145 batters.
Sadly for him injuries began setting
in, and aside from 1982 when he threw 166.1 innings, over the rest of
his career he'd never throw more than 96.1, retiring in 1984 at the age
of only 34.
In second place with a fin 2.47 ERA, Montreal
Expos All-Star Steve Rogers, about as solid a starter in the game
between 1973 and 1983 before injuries also derailed his career.
For
Rogers, he gave the upstart Expos 13 wins against 10 losses, with
eleven complete games and a shutout, throwing 219.1 innings.
Of
course we know now that he would go on to become a top starter in the
early-80's, taking home an ERA crown himself in 1982 with a 2.40 mark,
winning 19 games and coming in as runner-up in the Cy Young Race.
In
third place with a 2.54 ERA, St. Louis Cardinals starter and future
A.L. Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich, who put in a very nice year for his
new team after coming over from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Vuckovich
was used as both a starter and reliever, appearing in 45 games, with
about half of those starts, completing six games and tossing two
shutouts on his way to 198.1 innings of work.
After two more
solid years with the Cardinals, he'd find himself with the Milwaukee
Brewers in 1981, tying for the league-lead with his 14 wins during the
strike-shortened season, then following that up with his Cy Young year,
helping Milwaukee make it all the way to the World Series as he'd go
18-6 with a 3.34 ERA over 30 starts.
