NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1970 LUIS ALCARAZ

Up on the blog today, we have a "not so missing" 1970 card for former infielder Luis Alcaraz, one of the "original" Kansas City Royals from their inaugural 1969 season:

Alcaraz, who played his first two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967 and 1968 in a part-time role, was purchased by the new Royals franchise just before their first season of operation.

In that initial season with K.C., Alcaraz appeared in only 22 games, hitting .253 with 20 hits in 79 at-bats with 15 runs scored and seven runs batted in.

He'd be back in 1970 with the Royals, playing in 35 games and hitting .167, collecting 20 hits over 120 at-bats, which would end up being the last Big League action of his brief four-year career.

He'd put in two years in the Minors before playing the final eight years of his professional career South of the border in Mexico, playing up until the age of 40 in 1981.

For his Major League career, he hit .192 over 115 games, with 70 hits in 365 at-bats, scoring 30 while driving in 29.

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION- 1971 HAWK TAYLOR

On the blog today, we revisit a 10-year-old post featuring a "missing" 1971 card for Hawk Taylor of the Kansas City Royals:

Taylor put in an 11-year career between 1957 and 1970, even though the most action he ever saw in a season was back in 1964 as a member of the New York Mets when he appeared in 92 games.
Other than that he mainly got to play in about a few dozen games every year of his career, playing for the Milwaukee Braves (1957-1963), Mets (1964-1967), California Angels (1967) and Kansas City Royals (1969-1970).
For the 1970 season Taylor appeared in 57 games, batting .164 with nine hits over 55 official at-bats while splitting time behind the plate and first base.
For his career, Hawk batted .218, with 158 hits over 724 at-bats spread out over 394 games, just about 38 games a year.

 

REVISIT: 1978 CAREER-CAPPER FOR COOKIE ROJAS

Good day all!

On the blog today, thought it'd be fun to revisit another 10-year-old post, this one my 1978 "career-capper" for Cookie Rojas, long-time Major League infielder:

Rojas appeared in 64 games for the Western Division champ Royals in 1977, hitting an even .250 with 39 hits over 156 at-bats.
A five-time all-star, Rojas slapped his way through the Majors, collecting 1660 lifetime hits over 1822 games, with only 333 of those hits going for extra bases.
Of his 16 years in the Major Leagues, he played eight with the Royals and seven with the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he first made a name for himself between 1963 and 1969.

 

REVISIT: MISSING IN ACTION 1975 KURT BEVACQUA

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, we revisit a ten-year-old post, that of a "missing" 1975 card for Kurt Bevacqua, who split the 1974 season between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals:

Bevacqua played in 57 games in 1974, hitting .184 with 23 hits over 125 at-bats while DH-ing and playing both the infield and outfield.
He would end up playing 15 seasons as a Major League player, the highlight for him being his heroics in the 1984 World Series as a member of the San Diego Padres, giving them their only win against the eventual World Champion Detroit Tigers.
All told he’d hit .236 over his career, with 499 hits in 2117 official at-bats while playing every position but pitcher and catcher.
And let’s not forget he won that Bubble-Gum blowing contest, leading to one of the quirkier cards in the Topps stable in the 1970’s...

 

"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: GEORGE BRETT

On the blog today, we celebrate Kansas City Royals legend George Brett with his inclusion in my long-running WTHBALLS custom "Classic Baseball" set, appreciating the great game's long and rich history:

Brett made his Big League debut in 1973 with 13 games for the Kansas City Royals, the only team he'd suit up for over his magnificent 21 year career.

In that initial showing he hit .125 with five hits in 40 at-bats, including two doubles and two runs scored.

The following season he'd be here to stay, finishing third in the American League Rookie of the Year race in 1974, hitting .282 with 129 hits, 49 runs scored and 47 runs batted in over 133 games for the Kansas City Royals.
He’d have his breakout season quickly, leading the league with 195 hits as well as 13 triples in 1975 before winning his first batting title a year later when he hit .333 with a league-leading 215 hits and 14 triples.

His 1979 season is just not appreciated enough!

That season Brett led the league with 212 hits and 20 triples, while also collecting 42 doubles, 23 homers, 107 runs batted in and 119 runs scored, hitting .329 and also stealing 17 bases!

This was arguably his best season overall for his career, and remember, he hit .390 the following year!

The man was born to hit, and would finish his career with 3154 hits, a .305 average, 317 homers and let’s not forget the 201 stolen bases and 137 triples!
The 13-time all-star was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1993, getting named to 98.2% of the ballot, while taking home the MVP in 1980 after his magical .390 hitting season, while finishing second twice and third once.
Legend!

 

1980s CAREER-CAPPERS: 1984 GAYLORD PERRY

On the blog today, a card from my next WTHBALLS custom produced set, "1980s Career-Capers", a 1984 card for Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry:

For me growing up in the late-70’s/early-80s, Perry was the stuff of legend since he was the first player I remember reaching 3000 strikeouts, which at the time made him only the THIRD player to do so behind Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson.
He was also (and I remember this vividly) the first pitcher to reach 300 wins since Early Wynn, which was a 20 year gap, the first pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues, which he did with the Indians in 1972 and the Padres in 1978.
That 1978 season saw him take home the award after a fantastic year that saw him go 21-6 with a 2.73 earned run average at the age of 39 after coming over from the Texas Rangers.
People may also forget that for a relatively brief moment he was the all-time strikeout king before a couple of guys by the name of Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton caught up soon after.
He posted 5 20-win seasons, finished with 314 for his career, along with 53 shutouts and 3534 strikeouts over a 22-year Big League career, tossing 300+ innings six times.
Is it safe to say that he’s almost a forgotten all-time great?

MISSING IN ACTION: 1984 VIDA BLUE

Good day all! On the blog today, we have a "missing" 1984 card for Vida Blue, who had his career derailed a bit in the mid-80's:

In 1983 Blue appeared in only 19 games for the Kansas City Royals, going 0-5 with a 6.01 ERA at the relatively young age of 33.

The following year he'd be out of baseball completely before coming back with the San Francisco Giants, where he'd put in two seasons before retiring for good after 1986.

Of course, we all know that Vida Blue absolutely exploded onto the Major League scene in 1971, on his way to capturing both the Cy Young and MVP awards by season's end.

All he did in this epic season was post a record of 24-8, with a league-leading 1.82 earned run average, striking out 301 batters and tossing eight shutouts.

Oh yeah, he was only 21 years of age!

His WHIP of 0.952 and strikeouts-per-nine-innings of 8.7 also led the league, and he completed 24 of his 39 starts, putting in 312 innings of work for the upstart Oakland A's, who were about to go on the three-peat championship run between 1972 and 1974.

Blue would go on to post 209 career victories in the Majors, having some successful seasons with the San Francisco Giants, even starting the 1978 All-Star game for the National League, while finishing up his 17-year career in 1986.
It’s amazing for me to remember that when Blue started that NL All-Star game in 1978, he wasn’t even 30 years old, yet to me he already seemed to be an aging veteran by then.

MISSING IN ACTION: 1974 RICK REICHARDT

Time to finally create a "missing" 1974 card for uber-Bonus-Baby Rick Reichardt, who was coming to the end of an unfulfilled Major League career after only a decade or so:

Reichardt appeared in 87 games over the 1973 season, split between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, hitting .250 with six homers and 33 runs batted in.

He'd appear in one single game in 1974 before finally retiring, ending what was once a very promising career that was derailed by kidney problems.

Of course, Reichardt is well remembered as a spectacular two-sport superstar at the University of Wisconsin, so much so that a bidding war began by Major League clubs for his services, eventually having him sign a then unheard of $200,000 signing bonus with the (then) Los Angeles Angels of the American League.
This necessitated the development of the Amateur Draft, which began the very next year in hopes of curtailing such a wild scenario as the Reichardt affair.
Sadly for Reichardt, a serious kidney ailment cut short an excellent 1966 season which saw him have a kidney removed, and though he put up some decent numbers from time to time through the rest of his career, he was never the same again.
His last Topps card was in the 1971 set, which is odd since he really should have had a card from 1972 to 1974.

 

1975 "IN-ACTION"- HAL McRAE

On the blog today, adding to a series I haven't touched in a long while, a 1975 "In-Action" card for DH extraordinaire Hal McRae:

After a Big League debut in 1968, appearing in 17 with the Cincinnati Reds, he’d be back in the Majors in 1970, where he would stay for the next 18 seasons putting together an excellent career, becoming one of the first true full-time designated hitters once he was traded to the Kansas City Royals before the 1973 campaign.
All McRae would end up doing once in a Royals uniform is put in a 15-year run where he became one of the best hitters in the league, with three All-Star nods, six .300+ batting average seasons, and MVP consideration four times.
By the time he was done, he retired with a career .290 batting average, with 2091 hits, 484 doubles and 1097 runs batted in over 2084 games and 7218 at-bats, making three All-Star teams and finishing top-5 in MVP voting twice (1976 and 1982).

As a kid growing up during that era, I got to appreciate what a solid player McRae was, fearing him up at the plate against "my" New York Yankees, since he always seemed to do damage against them.

OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 DARRELL PORTER

Today on the blog we take a look at Darrell Porter and his image variations for his 1977 OPC and Topps cards:

OPC Version

Topps version

The young catcher was part of a multi-player trade in December of 1976 that had the people at OPC scrambling to airbrush him into a Kansas City Royals uni, while the Topps cards were already going to press, leaving us with what you see here.

Not that bad a paint-job by OPC. Lord knows we have seen worse (or some may say GLORIOUS) work over the decade!

As for Porter, I never realized that he was never a subject here on the blog all these years.

While he did make an All-Star team and finish third in Rookie of the year voting as a member of the Brewers, it was after he found himself in K.C. that he really became a solid Major League backstop, with three All-Star nods in a row between 1978 and 1980, including a starting gig in the 1979 game, with two top-10 MVP finished as well in that time.

His 1979 season is really not spoken about enough in respect to the 1970s!

Quite possibly the best offensive year by an American League catcher in the 1970s, Porter was a beast at the plate.

He hit .291 for the Royals, with 101 runs scored and 112 runs batted in, with 20 homers and an American League leading 121 walks, for a nifty .421 on-base-percentage, while also leading the league with 13 sacrifices.

He also hit an amazing 10 triples over his 155 hits, which as we all know for a catcher is not a common occurrence in the game.

In 1981 he would become a St. Louis Cardinal, signing with them as a Free Agent and replacing Hall of Famer Ted Simmons, and Porter would be part of the World Champion 1982 team, having himself an incredible Post Season, taking home MVP honors in BOTH the N.L. Playoffs and the World Series after hitting a ridiculous .556 against the Atlanta Braves, then hitting .286 with eight hits and five RBIs in the Fall Classic.

He'd finish his career with two seasons playing part-time with the Texas Rangers in 1986 and 1987, finishing up with a .247 batting average over 17 seasons, with 188 homers, 765 runs scored and 826 RBIs, four All-Star nods and the aforementioned two top-10 MVP finishes.

Sadly, because of a substance abuse problem that began during his baseball career, Porter passed away in 2002 related to cocaine at only 50 years of age.

His life was full of turmoil during and after his baseball career, and he even wrote a book about it called "Snap Me Perfect!", detailing his life in the sport and struggles with drugs.

R.I.P. Darrell Porter: 1952-2002.

 

WTHBALLS GUM PACK CUSTOM SET: GEORGE BRETT

On the blog today, my George Brett mini custom, from my "Gum Pack" set produced and released a few months ago in fun little packaging resembling a pack of chewing gum:

Brett made his Big League debut in 1973 with 13 games for the Kansas City Royals, the only team he'd suit up for over his magnificent 21 year career.

In that initial showing he hit .125 with five hits in 40 at-bats, including two doubles and two runs scored.

The following season he'd be here to stay, finishing third in the American League Rookie of the Year race in 1974, hitting .282 with 129 hits, 49 runs scored and 47 runs batted in over 133 games for the Kansas City Royals.
He’d have his breakout season quickly, leading the league with 195 hits as well as 13 triples in 1975 before winning his first batting title a year later when he hit .333 with a league-leading 215 hits and 14 triples.

His 1979 season is just not appreciated enough!

That season Brett led the league with 212 hits and 20 triples, while also collecting 42 doubles, 23 homers, 107 runs batted in and 119 runs scored, hitting .329 and also stealing 17 bases!

This was arguably his best season overall for his career, and remember, he hit .390 the following year!

The man was born to hit, and would finish his career with 3154 hits, a .305 average, 317 homers and let’s not forget the 201 stolen bases and 137 triples!
The 13-time all-star was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1993, getting named to 98.2% of the ballot, while taking home the MVP in 1980 after his magical .390 hitting season, while finishing second twice and third once.
Legend!

 

REVISITING A 10-YEAR-OLD POST: 1974 FANTASY ROOKIE CARD

On the blog today, we revisit a 10-year-old blog post featuring a fantasy multi-player 1974 rookie card that would have been quite the doozy had it really been out there:

Not a bad group of young ballplayers right here!

Here's the original write-up for it:

"Now here's a card that would have been nice to pull out of a pack! (Even though I am admittedly NOT a fan of the "multi-player" rookie cards).

Like I previously did with the 1978 dream rookie card with Ozzie Smith, Paul Molitor, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell, I couldn't resist designing a 1974 "Rookie Infielders" card with Robin Yount and George Brett.

Now it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility to have the two future Hall of Famers appear on one of those multi-player rookie cards in the '74 set.

But I DO understand why Topps didn't give them a look at the time.

I took an already existing card (#604) and replaced Terry Hughes and John Knox (sorry guys!) with Brett and Yount.

Teamed up with two other future solid major leaguers in Andre Thornton and Frank White, and this card would have been a killer at the card shows of the late 1980's when the rookie-card explosion happened.

Thankfully, because of the wonderful world of Photoshop, we can all go ahead and "fix" these so many years later."

 

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1970 LOU PINIELLA

Up on the blog today, we're going to go and give Lou Piniella a do-over on his 1970 card, something worthy of the 1969 American League Rookie of the Year:

Re-done version

As issued by Topps

 

You'd think with a full season of 1969 under his belt, Topps would have had a better image for his 1970 card.

However with the battle going on between the card maker and MLBPA at the time, they were recycling images or using older images taken years before.

Right before the 1969 season Piniella was traded by the Seattle Pilots to another new franchise, the Kansas City Royals, for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker.

It was a great move by the Kansas City team, as Piniella would not disappoint, going on to cop Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .282 with eleven homers and 68 runs batted in.

He'd play with the Royals through the 1973 season, making one more All-Star team in 1972 when he hit .312 while leading the league with 33 doubles, collecting a career-best 179 hits.

After being traded to the New York Yankees before the 1974 season, Piniella found his permanent home in the big leagues, playing the final eleven seasons of his career there.

Along the way he was a member of two championship teams, hit .300 or better five times, and eventually would even become manager of the Yanks before moving on to a long career leading Major League squads.

Over his 18-year career he hit .291, with 1705 hits in 5867 at-bats, and besides 10 games split between the Orioles in 1964 and the Indians in 1968, he'd do it all with the Royals and Yankees between 1969-1984.

In 1986 he took over as Yankee manager, and would go on to manage for another 23 seasons, guiding the Yanks, Reds, Mariners, Devil Rays and Cubs.

He would lead his teams to a World Series win in 1990 (Reds), an American League record 116 win season in 2001 (Mariners), eight 90+ win seasons (all but the Devil Rays), and six 1st place finishes (with the Reds, Mariners and Cubs).

Not a bad career spanning 46 years!

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1971 JOHN MATIAS

Up on the blog this fine day, a "do-over" for one-year Big Leaguer John Matias and his 1971 Topps card, which originally had him as a Kansas City Royal, a team he'd never actually play for:

Do-over

As-issued by Topps

 

Matias came up to the Majors in 1970, appearing in 58 games for the Chicago White Sox and hitting .188 with 22 hits in 117 official at=bats.

In the off-season he would be traded to the Royals along with Gail Hopkins for Pat Kelly and Don O'Reilly and spend the year in their Minor League system before being purchased by the San Diego Padres before the 1972 campaign.

Again, he'd never suit up for his new team, playing instead in their Minor League system before heading off to the Minnesota Twins system for a handful of games in 1973.

In 1974 he decided to try his hand in the Mexican League, playing the next five years for Juarez and hovering around the .300 mark before playing for Mexican City and Veracruz in 1979.

Incredibly, in 1980 the Hawaii native would be back in the Padres' system, playing for this "hometown" Hawaii Islanders for 12 games before calling it a career.

He definitely got his mileage over his career!

REVISITING A BLOG POST FROM JULY, 2013: 1976 HARMON KILLEBREW CAREER-CAPPER

Up on the blog today, thought it'd be fun to revisit a blog post from over 10 years ago, this time my 1976 Harmon Killebrew "career-capper", as "Killer" would close-out a powerful Hall of Fame tenure with some time as a Kansas City Royal:

Here's the original write-up from that post:

"I remember the first time I saw Harmon Killebrew's statistics when my cousin gave me a 1973 card of him when I was about 11 years old in 1980.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. All the home runs, all the R.B.I.'s from a player I never knew about. To count out EIGHT 40+ home run seasons blew me away.
This was right before I got my first Macmillan Encyclopedia, so baseball cards really were the only place back then to see stats of players who were around before you were a fan. I just kept rereading those power stats again and again, amazed every time as if I was seeing them for the first time.
Throw in the fact that the 1973 card of Killebrew is pretty damn cool, I was hooked on "Killer" ever since.
Over the years I was able to meet him on more than one occasion and just listen to him tell some stories, not just about baseball but some golf thrown in for good measure. He was an amazing person who was friendly, patient and always seemed to have a smile on his face.
Playing for Washington, Minnesota and a final season in Kansas City between 1954 and 1975, Killebrew mashed 573 home runs to go along with 1584 R.B.I.'s, winning an M.V.P. award along the way in 1969 while finishing in the top five in voting five other seasons.
In 1984 he was inducted in the Hall of Fame, capping off a stellar career that sometimes gets lost among the Mantles, Mays, Clementes and Aarons that were garnering all the attention in the same era.
But nevertheless, here is my design for what should have been a final card for the Hall of Famer, a 1976 edition showing him on his last team, the Royals, in one of my all time favorite baseball card sets."

DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1975 DENNIS LEONARD

Today on the blog, we have a 1975 "dedicated rookie" for Kansas City Royals ace Dennis Leonard, who made his Big League debut in 1974:

Leonard appeared in five games for K.C. that season, four of those starts, going 0-4 with a bloated 5.32 earned run average over 22 innings of work.

Lucky for the Royals however, this was going to change in a big way, as Leonard would become their anchor on the mound, posting three 20-win seasons as they ascended to become a powerhouse later in the decade.

The man was a stud between 1975 and 1981, finishing near the top of the A.L. for wins each year while taking the mound every fourth or fifth day without fail, logging a boatload of innings, even leading the league in the strike-shortened 1981 season with 201.2 over his 26 starts.

Sadly arm injuries kicked in during the 1982 season, something he’d never recover from, missing the 1984 season and retiring soon after in 1986.

Over 12 seasons in the Majors, Leonard would finish with 144 wins and a 3.70 ERA over 312 appearances, with 23 shutouts and 1323 strikeouts, tossing 2187 innings which included two seasons of 290+ (1977/1978).

 

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. OUTFIELDER AMOS OTIS

OK now!

Today I post up my first American League outfielder of the 1970s, often overlooked and underappreciated Kansas City Royal Amos Otis:

The man just needs to get his due when it comes to top outfielders of the 1970s, and I am happy to oblige!

Otis could very well be THE most overlooked player of the 1970's as he was nothing but steady through the entire decade, going on to be the American League's top run scorer with 861. driving in 90+ three times while stealing 30+ bases five times.

He led the A.L. in doubles twice, steals once, and made five All-Star teams while bringing home three Gold Gloves.

By the time he retired after the 1984 season after one year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he ended up with 193 homers, 341 stolen bases, 1092 runs scored and 2020 hits along with a batting average of .277 and 1007 runs batted in.
Considering the “dead ball” era of the early-70’s in the American League, his numbers are up there with the best of them, and it’s sad he gets lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in Major League baseball.

We can easily put together a top-notch squad of overlooked A.L. players from the era, including Roy White, Jim Sundberg, Toby Harrah and Buddy Bell, who I'd put up against just about anyone else!

 

1970'S ALL-DECADE TEAM: A.L. THIRD BASEMAN: GEORGE BRETT

OK, now today I post a card that was a tough one for me, my choice for the American League's top third baseman of the 1970s, and I went with George Brett:

Originally I did go with Graig Nettles, since he did put in a full decade in the league and put up some excellent power numbers while helping the New York Yankees to two World Championships.

However, I reconsidered and decided that this guy, as much as I hated him as a young Yankee fan growing up in Brooklyn at that time, was just tops and deserved the "honor".

Brett made his Big League debut in 1973 with 13 games for the Kansas City Royals, the only team he'd suit up for over his magnificent 21 year career.

In that initial showing he hit .125 with five hits in 40 at-bats, including two doubles and two runs scored.

The following season he'd be here to stay, finishing third in the American League Rookie of the Year race in 1974, hitting .282 with 129 hits, 49 runs scored and 47 runs batted in over 133 games for the Kansas City Royals.
He’d have his breakout season quickly, leading the league with 195 hits as well as 13 triples in 1975 before winning his first batting title a year later when he hit .333 with a league-leading 215 hits and 14 triples.

His 1979 season is just not appreciated enough!

That season Brett led the league with 212 hits and 20 triples, while also collecting 42 doubles, 23 homers, 107 runs batted in and 119 runs scored, hitting .329 and also stealing 17 bases!

This was arguably his best season overall for his career, and remember, he hit .390 the following year!

The man was born to hit, and would finish his career with 3154 hits, a .305 average, 317 homers and let’s not forget the 201 stolen bases and 137 triples!
The 13-time all-star was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1993, getting named to 98.2% of the ballot, while taking home the MVP in 1980 after his magical .390 hitting season, while finishing second twice and third once.
Legend!

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1977 WILLIE WILSON

Up on the blog today, a fun card to add to the WTHBALLS roster, a "not so missing" 1977 card for Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals:

Though he didn't get a rookie card from Topps until the 1979 set, Wilson made his MLB debut during the 1976 season as a 20-year-old with 12 games, going 1-for-6 at the plate with the first two stolen bases of his career.

Wilson was already showing his future base-stealing prowess in Triple-A Omaha in 1977, swiping 74 bases while hitting .281 in 132 games.

That would get him another 13 games in the Big Leagues during the 1977 season, where he swiped six bases while hitting .324 with 11 hits over 34 official at-bats.

Of course as we all know by now, Wilson went on to have a very nice 19-year career, with a batting title, five triples titles and a great 1980 season where he lead the league in hits (230), runs (133) triples (15), while winning a Silver Slugger Award and Gold Glove.

He also set the (then) Major League record for at-bats in a season, stepping up to the plate 705 "official" times.

By the time he was done, he recorded 2207 hits, 1169 runs, 147 triples and a .285 lifetime average while stealing 668 bases.

As a kid growing up in the 1980's, I remember hating those Royals teams, with guys like Wilson, George Brett, Dan Quisenberry, Larry Gura, et al.

They just seemed to always beat the Yanks in the most frustrating ways.

EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS: 1979 A.L. STRIKEOUTS

Good day everyone!

On the blog today, as we near the end of this long-running thread of "expanded league leaders", we get the the top three American league strikeout pitchers of 1978, displayed on a 1979 expanded leader card:

Of course, if we're talking strikeouts in the American League during the 1970s we're most likely talking about all-time great Nolan Ryan, who prevented the New York Yankees Ron Guidry from a pitching triple crown by striking out 260 batters to Guidry's 248.

For Ryan, it was his sixth strikeout title in seven years, incredibly with another five to come, four of those during the late-80's/early-90's!

The man was not human, as he would go on to whiff 5714 batters over 27 seasons, with 15 seasons of 200+ K's under his belt. Just bonkers.

In second place with the aforementioned 248 K's, the Yankees Ron Guidry, who had a season for the ages in 1978, winning 25 games (against only 3 losses), with nine shutouts and a microscopic 1.74 earned run average.

Not only did he take home the Cy Young that year, but finished second behind Hall of Famer Jim Rice for the league MVP Award, which some may argue he should have won anyway.

In third place with 183 strikeouts, Kansas City Royals ace Dennis Leonard, who put in another great year for the American League West champs.

Leonard posted a career best 21 wins that season, completing half of his 40 starts while posting 294.2 innings of work, tossing four shutouts and posting an ERA of 3.33.

Three aces of the era led by one of the all-time greats in Nolan Ryan. Not too shabby!