EXPANDED LEAGUE LEADERS- 1975 A.L. VICTORIES

On the blog today, we move on to the American League and their top winning pitchers for 1974, on a 1975 “expanded league leader” card:

 

 

The top spot with 25 victories was shared by two future Hall of Famers, Jim “Catfish” Hunter and Fergie Jenkins, who both had monster seasons and finished first and second respectively in the Cy Young race by season’s end.

For Hunter, he finally brought home the Cy Young Award after going 25-12 for the Oakland A’s, helping them win their third straight World Championship, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He also led the league with a 2.49 earned run average, starting 41 games and completing 23, with six shutouts and 143 strikeouts in 318.1 innings of work, edging out Jenkins 90 points to 75 for pitching’s greatest award.

For Jenkins, he just missed out on becoming the first pitcher to take home the award in both leagues, as he would go 25-12 with a 2.82 ERA over 41 starts, completing 29 while tossing six shutouts himself, striking out 225 batters for the surprising Texas Rangers.

It was the last of his seven 20-win seasons in the Majors, as he would go on to finish with 284 wins over his stellar 19-year Big League career.

In third place with 22 wins apiece are four solid starters from the decade, including one Hall of Famer: Nolan Ryan, Mike Cuellar, Steve Busby and Luis Tiant.

All four of these guys put in Cy worthy years for their respective teams, with Ryan leading the league with 367 strikeouts, Cuellar leading the league with his .688 winning percentage, Tiant leading the league with his seven shutouts and Busby tossing the second no-hitter of his young career, becoming the first pitcher to ever toss two no-no’s in his first two full seasons in the Majors.

Well there you have it! SIX top-notch pitchers of the era represented on a fun card to create for the blog!

 

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970s- 1975 STEVE "BUZZ" BUSBY

Up on the blog today I’m adding Steve Busby to my long-running “Nicknames of the 1970’s” thread, with this 1975 “Buzz” cut:

Busby was making a pretty great name for himself by the time this card would have seen the light of day, already the author of a 22-win season (1974), TWO no-hitters (1973 & 1974), and only 24-years-of-age for the Kansas City Royals.
He had a very bright career ahead of him, and 1975 was equally as successful, winning 18 games while lowering his earned run average to 3.08 over 260.1 innings.
But sadly arm troubles took hold and he had rotator cuff surgery, causing him to miss most of 1976 as well as all of 1977 before making it all the way back for seven appearances in 1978.
But he could never again regain the form that allowed him to win 56 games in three seasons between 1973 and 1975.
He eventually retired after the 1980 season, a year which saw him appear in 11 games, pitching to a record of 1-3 with an ugly 6.17 E.R.A.
All told, he finished with a record of 70-54, with an E.R.A. Of 3.72 over 167 appearances, with 659 strikeouts and seven shutouts over 1060.2 innings pitched.

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: STEVE BUSBY. JUNE 19TH, 1974

I think this design came out nice!
The next no-hitter in my on-going sub-set celebrating the gems of the decade is a historic one, Steve Busby and his second no-hitter in only his second full Major League season, thrown on June 19th:

Busby became the first pitcher to ever toss no-no’s in his first two seasons, this one against the Milwaukee Brewers in which he faced only 28 batters, winning 3-0 in Milwaukee County Stadium.
Busby struck out four while walking six, while getting some offensive help from Amos Otis and Ed Kirkpatrick who both hit homers.
It would be the high point of his best season in the Big Leagues, as he would go on to post 22 wins with a 3.39 earned run average over 38 starts, 20 of which he completed.
He also tossed three shutouts while striking out a career-high 198 batters, throwing 292.1 innings and getting named to his first All-Star team.
Sadly, after another fine season in 1975 in which he posted 18 wins along with an ERA at 3.08 over 34 starts, getting named to his second straight All-Star team, Busby developed a torn rotator cuff and became the first player to undergo rotator cuff surgery, forcing him to miss most of 1976 and all of 1977.
He made it all the way back in 1978, though only four seven games, and was able to pitch in 22 games the following year. But after eleven appearances in 1980 to which he went 1-3 with an ERA at 6.17 his career was over.
A once promising career for the young right-hander ending prematurely at the age of 30.

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: STEVE BUSBY, APRIL 27TH, 1973

Moving along in my thread of No-Hitters through the 1970’s, we come to the first gem of the 1973 season, Steve Busby’s no-no against the Detroit Tiers on April 27th:

Busby, making just the tenth start of his career, would face veteran pitcher Jim Perry at Tigers’ Stadium that evening, and would go on to fan four while allowing six walks in throwing the first no-hitter in Kansas City Royals history.
Thanks mainly to home runs by outfielders Ed Kirkpatrick and Amos Otis, Busby was able to go to a 3-0 win, improving his record to 2-2 on his way to a 16-15 rookie campaign that also saw him strikeout 174 batters over 37 starts and 238.1 innings.
Of course, 1974 would see Busby toss yet another no-hitter, this time against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 19th, becoming the first pitcher to ever throw no-hitters in his first two full seasons, while also winning a career-high 22 games while tossing three shutouts and striking out 198 batters in 38 starts and 292.2 innings.
Only 24 years of age, Busby had a very bright career ahead of him, and 1975 was equally as successful, winning 18 games while lowering his earned run average to 3.08 over 260.1 innings.
But sadly arm troubles took hold and he had rotator cuff surgery, causing him to miss most of 1976 as well as all of 1977 before making it all the way back for seven appearances in 1978.
But he could never again regain the form that allowed him to win 56 games in three seasons between 1973 and 1975.
He eventually retired after the 1980 season, a year which saw him appear in 11 games, pitching to a record of 1-3 with an ugly 6.17 E.R.A.
All told, he finished with a record of 70-54, with an E.R.A. Of 3.72 over 167 appearances, with 659 strikeouts and seven shutouts over 1060.2 innings pitched.

WHEN A NO-HIT PITCHER TRANSFORMS INTO A NO-HIT CATCHER...THE 1975 STEVE BUSBY CARD

Though I have always loved Topps 1975 set, I would never claim it to be "perfect".

Case in point is card #120, Steve Busby.

If you knew players well enough when this card came out, you would have thought Busby looked a little different, and you would be absolutely correct.

As many of you already know, Topps made a mistake and ended up using a picture of battery-mate Fran Healy for the Steve Busby card.

It also happened on another card in the set which I will profile at a later date, but for today let's go ahead and look at the "mistake", and also design a "correct" version of the card:

As issued by Topps, showing catcher Fran Healy instead of Busby.

That's the real Steve Busby on my re-design.

At the time of this error (which Topps never bothered to correct by the way), Busby really was an up and coming star with all the promise in the world.
He came up as a full-time player in 1973 and finished third in Rookie of the Year in the American League with a 16-15 record and 4.23 earned run average. On top of that he even threw a no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers on April 27th, ironically enough with Fran Healy as his catcher.
In 1974 he was even better, going 22-14 with a 3.39 earned run average, and once again throwing a no-hitter, this time on June 19th against the Milwaukee Brewers.
And guess who his catcher was? That's right, none other than Fran Healy!
I guess if you're going to have someone else depicted on your card, it may as well be the guy who called balls and strikes for you during BOTH of your no-hitters, right?!
In 1975 Busby continued to shine on the mound, as he managed to lower his E.R.A. even more, down to 3.08 with an 18-12 record over 260.1 innings.
But sadly, in early 1976 Busby was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, and underwent one of the first rotator cuff surgeries in baseball history, if not the very first.
When he came back it was evident that the surgery didn't help much, and even though he pitched until the 1980 season, he only managed about 220 innings across those last five years, calling it a career at the young age of 30.
All told, Busby retired with a record of 70-54 with a 3.72 E.R.A., and was eventually elected to the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame.
But sadly because of injuries he was never able to fulfill that promising career that seemed to be developing in the mid-70's.